I will be the first one to admit that there are some days that I wake up and the first thing I say to myself is “fuck it” and roll back over. Now that can be attributed to a few things; one, I’m wicked tired. Two, I want to be awake before seven most mornings so I set my alarm to sixty-fifty-nine in the AM. Or Three, I just don’t have the drive to get myself out of bed. But because my legs still work, I do pull myself out of bed and probably go sit on the toilet for ten minutes trying to stay awake which is quite the battle.

There are days where if I did decide to go crawl back into bed and say throw my day away people wouldn’t blame me for doing so. Though the days where I pause and recharge are few and far between. Last school year, I worked all but three days from October to the beginning of June after school. Then during the winter, I would go from work to coach youth basketball for another few hours. Then after that, I would go home and do whatever schoolwork I would have to do. I was eighteen years old and my day started at six fifty-nine every morning and if I was lucky would end before at night.

I gave myself no time for high school partying or any of that. Very little time to take a few moments to myself. Why? It’s because every morning I wake up, roll back in bed, and then probably fifteen minutes later look at myself in the mirror and remind myself that day is young and filled with chances to leave your mark. To make people remember your name. That’s what gets me out of bed most mornings, the chance to solidify my legacy on this planet. The chance to make people remember me.

Now that doesn’t mean I wake up every morning with the goal to cure cancer or take a shit in the oval office bathroom. I can add to my legacy by saying hi to a kid I walked with, or by making a random baby laugh, or offering some food to someone who served our country and is homeless and on the street. Things that at the end of the day make me feel like I made an impact, however small it may be. That’s why the Hell I’m here.