Dear student,

I see you. You're out here working hard and feeling under-recognized. It's hard to maintain a positive outlook when you feel like you're taking steps without any sort of forward progression. You're tired, over-worked, under-paid, and generally just sick of looking at your calendar and seeing deadline after deadline with seemingly no end in sight. You are completely warranted in your feelings of stress. You see people who just go to school -- no job, no other commitments, no outside factors to ever have to sacrifice time and sleep in order to prioritize and you can't help but to feel a little angry and disillusioned. Why can't that be you, you know? It would be easy enough to only have to worry about going to class, studying, and doing homework. Can you imagine what it would be like to not have to budget your resources like you do? But, instead you just slept 3 hours last night so you could study for an exam in the morning and immediately go to work after. For what reason? You find yourself questioning if it's all worth it or not. I'm here to tell you that it is.

Not only is what you are doing ultimately more fulfilling than sitting around land watching Netflix, all of these things that you are juggling and balancing like the best rodeo clown on earth directly and positively impact your future. Whenever you can't think of a reason to not just give up, think about where you hope to be within the next year. Then, think about the next five years, ten years, fifty years, etc. If you are not actively living your life in pursuit of your goals and aspirations, what would you be doing anyway? I would imagine the answer to that question would be regretting it. One day, when you are looking back on everything you did you will be so proud of yourself and happy that you didn't throw in the towel just because life is tough and taking the easy way out is an option -- just not one you should take.

Within the next 10 years, we will all be working professionals in some sort of field. Whether that field is the one you want to pursue is completely and totally up to you. Now is the chance you have to take your life into your own hands and make what you would like out of it. Go to class. Go to work. Study. Do your homework. One day, you could wake up and think, "Man, I really wasted my time." Adolescence is filled with opportunities. Will you take them, or will let someone else give them instead? Someone who wasn't interested in giving up and letting chances go, because that's the reality of professional life. It's not easy, and it isn't supposed to be. Not everyone is fit to make it out there. Will you be?

Think about the lives one day you could potentially be involved in. Who you could possibly change, influence, educate. Your life is about you, but it's also not about you. Each one of you will be pursuing a path that is destined to cross with many other paths. Whether you are a coach, a nurse, a teacher, a computer scientist, a dancer, the list goes on. You have a unique opportunity, because you are a unique individual. There is no one else just like you in this world of billions of individuals, all with their own significant hopes and dreams, personalized skill set and interests. Take advantage of the fact that there's no one else quite like you. As cheesy as the phrase is, be the change you want to see in the world.

So, set your alarms. You have the rest of your life in front of you. What path will you choose?