It's another Tuesday night at 2:30 in the morning where I'm just now getting into bed after spending hours doing school work. And this is typical. I'll have an early morning of getting up around 6:00 and doing it all over again. Class, work, gym, homework, repeat. That's not including the things in between, such as cleaning, laundry, tending to my dog, etc.

But I know it will all be worth it someday. And that's exactly what I keep in mind as I'm crawling into bed knowing I have another long day ahead of me. It can be stressful, but in a weird way I actually enjoy staying busy. I also know that it is what sets me apart.

Having a full plate is hard, but that's what keeps me hungry, hungry for success. There's that saying, when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, only then will you be successful. And that statement is exactly right. You see, too many people claim they want success and they don't want to struggle every day to make ends meet, but most of the time they lack the drive to get them there. Because if it was easy, everyone would do it.

Everyone would be driving nice cars with a great house and successful career. Or if you claim that material things are not your priority, then everyone would have a successful marriage, well-behaved children, and a fit body. But that's the problem: it's not easy. It's not easy spending all day, every day working to meet your goals with little to no time to check Facebook, watch Netflix, or go out with friends. But sometimes that's what you have to do if you want to reach success and obtain your goals: You have to be willing to make sacrifices.

Sometimes you're going to lose focus. There will be days when you have a long list of things to do yet you can't even make it out of your bed. This is when you are mentally exhausted, and it's normal. But it's also when you have to give yourself a break and say, "Tomorrow is a new day." Your mental health is important, but when it becomes a habit is when it becomes a problem.

Don't lose sight of the end goal. Where do you want to be in ten years? No one ever says, "In ten years, I want to work a dead end job, be in an unhappy relationship/marriage, and barely pay my bills on time, while also hating the way I look." I don't believe that anyone wants their life to turn out that way, it's just the result of not wanting to put in the work it took to refrain from being average.

In order to avoid average, you're going to have to make sacrifices. You're going to have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You may even lose friends and relationships or have family who can't seem to understand what you're doing. But that's okay, it's all a part of the process. People are going to talk; how you react is what sets you apart.

So here's to us: here's to the late nights and early mornings; the weekends of staying at home because you have projects to finish or even because you're too tired from the busy week. Here's to making time for the gym instead of finding excuses; losing sleep and catching up on sleep; losing friends and making better ones. Here's to being allergic to "average."