I want you to take a pencil and break it. Yeah, do it! Right now. Okay, well, you don’t have to do it right now if you don’t want to, but imagine, if you will, breaking a single pencil. It isn’t too hard, is it? Just a flimsy pencil that is easily breakable, right?

Let’s rewind. The imaginary pencil you have in your hand is you. That pencil can be sharpened or dulled depending on what it encounters. It's just like us; we encounter things that keep us intelligent and sharp or make us tired and dull. The pencil will also write things that are unique to it, whether they be to-do lists, fiction, diary entries, essays, ideas, equations or anything else. Like pencils, we encounter new ideas, new experiences, and new stories. Some of these experiences are shared, but no two events are alike. When we come to the very end, we, like pencils, are worn down and removed to make space for a new set of stories to be written. And like pencils, we are all here to fulfill our purpose, one way or another. We are all unique and singular, coming in different shapes and sizes. We might commit more mistakes than we would like, but we can erase most or cross things out and move on.

Now, back to the break. One pencil alone can break pretty easily. And pressure can be handled better by some more than others, but we are bound to break eventually. I know, you might be telling yourself, “I don’t have a breaking point! I am strong!” I thought I was, too, until college hit me like a ton of bricks. Being on one's own does have its perks, but it also comes with drawbacks. Being alone in certain situations is good, but going through life’s journey can really be tough for others. The point here is that you don’t have to go through life alone.

Imagine this as a scenario: instead of giving you one pencil to break, I give you two. Not as easy as before, right? It takes a little more effort to snap two pencils in half. Now I want you to grab four and try to snap those. Even harder right? Four pencils can be pretty tough to snap. Now I want you to grab a huge handful and snap all of them at once! It is impossible to break all of them with your hands.

Like pencils, when we work together, we stand as a stronger body of people who work for the same thing. Whether it’s to bring support to a certain cause or to help someone in times of need, when we all face the same way for the same cause, our spirits can become unbreakable. Our individual stories define us for what purpose we all serve, but when we all find something to believe in, the motivation to succeed together becomes stronger and impossible to ignore. Even though it may seem tough going at it alone, working together will certainly make the going a lot easier.

Take college, for instance. I have not heard a single person who has told me that college wasn’t rough, or that they toughed it out alone without the help of anyone. They always had someone to talk to or get help from: roommates, advisors, mentors, friends, companions, resident assistants, upperclassmen, and even the janitor sometimes. It's always about finding a stable base of support that will allow you to succeed, because college isn’t about being better than everyone else, but growing into a better person.

Growing takes time and a lot of experience that will allow people to really define who they are in terms of what they will do moving on into the future. Experiences also show what kind of a person someone will become. Seeking out support is a crucial part in that process because many people will come out and support you, making your resilience stronger and making the goal a little easier. And, like a pencil, we sometimes may be chewed, tossed, worn, sharpened, and even thrown away when we still have some life left in us, but like any success story, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel and sometimes our greatest failures will be our largest triumphs when finding what story we will write next.