You automatically roll your eyes when the girl that gets straight A’s secures her seventh internship of the year. It just happens to be at the company you’ve been contacting non-stop for the past three months with no success. Her luck aggravates you. She has everything you want. As you moan to your girlfriends that she gets everything handed to her on a plate, you fail to notice how she got there. Although some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, that girl you’re bitching about may have worked harder than you could believe to be where she is. Contrary to your initial opinion, sometimes in life people have to make their own luck.
Luck isn’t always about who you know or a random turn of events; luck is a result of hard work, determination and perseverance. The key to opening doors in life, to fulfilling dreams and ambitions and to getting to exactly where you want to be is taking every single opportunity you are offered. That one opportunity that you turn down could have been the opening you needed. I don’t mean never saying ‘no’ because taking on too much isn’t healthy or helpful, but when you’re fresh out of college you should be armed with a brand new set of life skills, and an array of experiences to match – and if you’re not, and all you can say about your college experience is you were drunk 99% of the time, that’s not going to put you in good standing with future employers.
Unlike the rumours, college shouldn’t just be four years to slob out, drink too much and have fun (even though these should all definitely be done.) It’s important to use your time at college to shape yourself. By trying and experiencing as much as you can, you’ll learn about yourself. You’ll learn that some things that may seem out of your depth are attainable – and once you break free of your comfort zone your opportunities can be endless.
Hard work is one sure way in life to get ahead of the rest. If you are one of those girls that spend more time judging others, belittling other peoples’ success and determination, than worrying about your own then you’re missing a trick. See, while you’re distracted by others’ success, that girl you’re moaning about is making the most of every opportunity, and in turn making her own luck.
Runners are always told in a race to not look back at how close their competitors are, but instead to focus on the finish line. However hard this is to put in to practice in day-to-day life, the time spent comparing yourself with others is time wasted. It’s time that you could have spent bettering yourself. Though life may seem like a constant competition with friends, colleagues or siblings, the best way to be happy is to only judge yourself against the person you were yesterday.
Ultimately in life, when one door closes, another one opens, but let’s face it you have to open the first door to start that chain of events. Don’t just sit around and wait for luck to find you, pick up that penny and let the rest fall in to place.
Featured image via Pexels
