Originally from a text chat to a friend
“This past year has been me looking for a job, school has been a job, clubs have been a job, staying fit has been a job, working this summer has been a job, applying for jobs is a job - Life can be a job.
If life was that simple, saplings would crumble too early for us to ever appreciate their potential, their sturdiness. They can grow soooo tall, XXX, if they have enough time. Your life will develop in many ways, face many strong gales, shocks of lightning, and plenty of dreary rain in times of grief… but in the end, it becomes an enormous and fruitful tree, full of memories in the rings and full of seeds to leave for the future. Do that.
The founder of McDonalds, Ray Kroc, wasn’t content while he worked as a salesman, so he took the cards he was given and turned it into a multi-billion dollar success story that no one forgets.
Jackie Chan could’ve been one of the endless stuntmen for Bruce Lee. But he refined his passion, studied well beyond a single martial art, worked tirelessly, gave his all to the art of high-flying stunts, and received his lucky break at the ripe age… of 44.
We’ve only just begun, XXX. Don’t you ever lose faith on me. Nobody expects anything of a fresh college grad., nobody expects anything of a young punk, nobody expects anything of a kid… but it’s the ones nobody imagines anything of that can sometimes do the things no one imagines. Christy Brown, Stephen Hawking, Frank McCourt, Spielberg, heck, Simon Cowell.
All failures well without what we’re endowed with, and all with the courage and tenacity to refocus and center, and redefine the cards that were lain out to them.”