I was Jasmine freakin’ Williams. I thought college would be a breeze.
But what has been dubbed, ‘the best four years of your life,’ included some of the worst days of mine.
And for a while, I blamed everyone. It was everyone’s fault that bad things were happening to me. It was everyone’s fault that life wasn’t going my way. It was everyone’s fault that I was hurting, even if they didn’t know. Even if they asked and I lied and said I was fine.
It took me years to realize there was actually a reason that I’ve been through some of my worst days.
On the days where you feel like you just can’t go on? Remember that. Someone is watching how you handle this. And they’re subconsciously taking notes.
They’re watching you trip over hurdle after hurdle. They’re watching you make progress and then have setbacks and then hit rock bottom.
While it may not mean anything to them right now, someday it will. Because if you’re tripping over hurdle after hurdle that means you got up and tried again.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery, isn’t it?
And when someone is going through the worst days of their life, I want them to remember how they watched me overcome mine. That I made progress and then had setbacks and then hit rock bottom.
That good, bad, or ugly, I kept getting up and trying again.
So I will keep tripping over my hurdles. I will keep landing on my face and then get up and do it all over again tomorrow.
I don’t care because I’m not doing it for me anymore, I’m doing it for you.