5 Steps to Getting Whatever You Want: The College Edition

Welcome to our one and only poetry column by Michele Wroblewski. Michele aims to show people that although painstaking to endure, challenges faced in life should be received in gratitude, for they produce the powerful product of a strong, independent, and self confident individual that is prepared to face the world.

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Life is all about choices; opportunities of growth rise from decisions made. Life grants you with the capability to turn the steering wheel of the car while cruising on the highway of life; you are able to press the pedal to your speed, turn on and off the head lights, blast the radio, or sit in silence.   The car is already equipped for these actions; all you must do is follow the instructions within the manual in order to be able to fully operate the vehicle.   These are actions that even a robot can execute with the proper given orders.   However, to get in the car and completely control your destination? That is where humanity, ambition, and self motivation come in to play.

Like life, we always enter the car with purpose.   We need a source of transportation to get where we want to be, and we plan out our route from A to B. We can predict what roads to travel on in order to reach our destination.   The route is already there, sealed in pavement, we just merely choose the address.   However, how many can truly say that they have gotten in the car, and driven for hours and hours without a direction? Without a purpose? Instead, just to be in the car, as you feel the humming of its engine, enjoy the freedom to travel to wherever your heart desires with no explanation, no justification, no ties? To feel the liberty behind the winds gusts as you roll down your window, and allow your hair to wisp in any direction it wills itself to bend or twist in?

Happiness is for now, not for later; beautiful, blissful, yet simple moments like these pass so quickly.   Before you know it, if you do not take notice to these moments, their magic will fade, just as the flame of a fire diminishes if it not tended to.   If you do not embrace the beauty in life, it will disappear.   College can be a rewarding experience to those who have the drive to follow their dreams.   These four years are packed with valuable lessons that will shape your world forever; however five stand out above the others, for these will lead to the ultimate indicator of success in life: happiness.

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Five Steps to Success

            Be responsible: The world is huge. There are limitless possibilities; however, talking about it, thinking about it, writing your goals down in a planner will only cause additional stress, for words will be forever empty without action, no matter what form they are in.   You must DO in order to achieve, it’s that simple.   Act on an impulse, and your actions will always be truthful; however, it is important to realize with action comes consequence.   Your mistakes are your own to make, if you let anyone else tell you what do to, you are hindering your own growth.   If you are going to make a mistake, own it, and learn from it.   You are not perfect, and those who expect you to be? Well they must be from another planet outside of this realm, for no human was ever created to be perfect. Be responsible for your happiness and freedom in your life, and it will reward you with fulfillment.

Be honest: To be honest with oneself is far from simple. It takes courage, strength, confidence, clarity, faith, and ultimately, love of oneself surrender to acceptance. It can either build you up or destroy you. It can motivate you to pursue another path, which can lead to the fulfillment of your dreams. Yes, it can result in pain, failure, disappointment, and heart break, but without it, you will never move on from anything that you currently view as a problem in your world. Without honesty, growth is stunted. Be honest with yourself: you deserve only the best; the best can only come to you if you rid yourself of lies, anger, hatred, anxiety, and empty actions. Fill your life with truth, with the people you love, and with goals that you feel you can dedicate yourself to full heartedly. If the future doesn’t scare and excite you consecutively, do you really think you are living to your fullest potential? Never settle.

 

Be social: Our greatest lessons are learned by interacting with the world around us. As we learn another person’s story, we open our eyes to the world around us, a world that is filled with hatred, violence, abuse, neglect, anger, depression, anxiety, stress: we are never alone to face it on our own. Yes, the world will always have a dark side, but together we can create a way to overcome. Together, we can create a light so bright that we train ourselves to see through these dark times, through a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on, or just a good laugh. When you open your eyes to the people, and love, around you, everything else in this world becomes a grain of sand. Open your heart, never lose that hope. Yes, others have wronged you, but can’t you see that is the reason why you are so strong? So surrender to the power of love, for it will help you let go of the lies that your spirit is wounded of. Love will always give us what we need. Be social, and you allow love to plant it’s seed; with good people beside you, there will be nothing that you cannot achieve.

                  Be present: Live in the present, for only it will set you free from a past of pain or holding onto hate.   Let the anger slip away, feel love in place. There is no such thing as waiting for the right moment, the perfect opportunity, or your soul mate; to wait is a waste of time.   Nothing worth having is ever put in the palm of someone’s hand.   In order to achieve greatness, you must go after what you want.   This requires action, not planning your days away.    Take control of your future; don’t let your desires control you.   If you want something? Go for it.   If you see an opportunity? Take it.   Trust your intuition, and never take a step back from a decision you have made, for you felt it was right when you made it.   Each failed attempt, mismatched opportunity in life, and breakup is just another step towards success.   You have to fail in order to succeed, for if you never fail…how will you ever know how to rule out what you don’t want in order to gain what you do?   After you discover what you thought you would want is not all that it is cracked up to be, you will be able to feel desire for what you never even imagined yourself to want months, weeks, or even a few days ago, but you must allow yourself to make those mistakes.   Then? Only your wildest dreams will indeed come true.   Be present in the moment, never let what you are passionate for slip through your fingers without having a say in its fate.   It’s your life; never wait. Always live for today.

Reject negativity and be yourself: When you put yourself out there, there are going to be people who don’t like you. That’s life; but you will gain so much more than you will ever lose. It may hurt to have someone not care for you, it is human nature to want to be loved. However, never let the desire to be liked or accepted stop you from following your morals, gut, intuition, values, or anything else that make you unique to every other person out there. Sure you will be different, but do people not like who you are because you are different, or do they not like you because they are like everyone else? Always stand up for what you believe to be true; someone has to do it, make it you. Reject the negativity, let go of hate with ease, and be you; if you love your world, it will indeed love you back. Positive people are like magnets, what you project is what you receive.

 The milestone of college teaches us a number of valuable lessons if the right resources are utilized.   However, it will forever fail to reveal the big secret that can hinder you from truly getting everything you want.  What is this big secret that may provide a road block in the path to success? The change that comes upon graduation, and how much you are going to miss it all.

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Forever with Me

I’m going to miss you with every step I take into my life.

I may be leaving, but I will never leave you behind.

I may be far away, but you’ll never be far from my mind.

I may not know where I’m going, but I know I can always go to you.

Because I fly like the wind, and I let its gusts take me to where I feel I must go;

I do not look at street signs, I only look at roads.

This may be my new beginning, but just know it’s not my ending with you; it’s our beginning too.

For I’ll never forget what we’ve been through,

To get where we are now.

And I’ll never erase the memories of laughing so hard, that we fall to the ground,

Or the tears that we shared, as we held onto each other with care.

Most importantly, I will never forget you will always be there.

You are my light when I need it the most.

You taught me well, helped me to grow.

Showed me that love comes with acceptance, as we let each other in.

This love is everlasting,

We’ll face the world side by side.

You’ve opened my eyes so I can begin again.

You’ll forever be, my best friend. <3

This article is dedicated to my twin sister Caitlyn.   I owe everything to you, including my happiness, for you have provided to me the strength that I needed in order to get through the challenges, mentally, physically, and emotionally, that this world has so far provided for me.   You are my rock, and not a day will go by that I will not remind you through my actions, my words, my songs, and my love, that I will be making up to you everything that you have sacrificed for me for the rest of my life.   College with you is ending, but it is just the beginning of the rest of our lives.

Identity Magazine is all about empowering women to get all A’s in the game of life — Accept. Appreciate. Achieve.^TM Every contributor and expert answer the Identity 5 questions in keeping with our theme. As a team, we hope to inspire and motivate ourselves and inspire you to get all A’s.

What have you accepted in your life that took time, physically or mentally?

I have accepted good things truly do come to those who wait.   Looking back to myself four years ago would be looking at a completely different person, both mentally and physically.   Four years ago, I would not have even dreamed of accomplishing the things I have in such a short time period, and I can sense there are going to be much bigger things come.   Greatness comes to people in different ways; if you have faith in yourself, your time will come to shine.

What do you appreciate about yourself and within your life?

I am grateful for the people in my life.   Without every encounter, good and bad, I would not be who I am today, and I would not change who I have become for anything.   I love my flaws as much as I love my strengths, and not many people can say that about themselves and mean it.

What is one of your most rewarding achievements in life? What goals do you still have?

One of my most rewarding achievements in life is to continually succeed.   My secret? I follow my dreams and passions in every act that I do, both professionally and spiritually…and I follow the five things that I have listed above.   You can have it all in life, sometimes you just need to get a little creative. 😉

What is your not-so-perfect way? What imperfections and quirks create your Identity?

I tend to act on an impulse…with everything I do.   I do not think things through and I speak from the heart, because I feel that is the only way that truth is revealed.   It may not be perfect, and it may sometimes warrant further explanation, but my actions will forever dictate my values.   Although imperfect, it is something I will never change about myself.

How would you complete the phrase “I Love My…?”

Positivity.   I can make the light inside of me shine even in my darkest times.   I never let anything stop me; it is not what we are given to deal with in life, but our mind set that helps us to conquer ANYTHING that stands in our way.