Taking the Stairs

I started instantly noticing that so many people were taking the elevator that there was this humongous line for the elevator. My initial thought is why not take the stairs and save that time standing around waiting to be packed into a tin can with other people? All those people who are waiting in line for the elevator honestly believed that this tin can they wore taking a ride in was going to be more effective and beneficial than willingly taking the stairs. Why? Where does this delusion come from? I watched people use the elevator to go down stairs and again i’m shocked. This building only really contains 4 levels of active use. Why is taking the elevator so normal for everyone to do? Oh!! It hit me like a ton of bricks. 

Truth 1: Your back needs to be against a WALL!

I’m intentionally walking up four flights of stairs to get to my chemistry class, I noticed that hardly anyone took the stairs. At a max, there would be 20 people coming and going that wore on the stairs. I thought woe for a school that caters to least five thousand students and the max number of people I see is 20 including me. It all clicked for me at that precise moment! The stairs weren’t stairs at all but rather a symbolic message for modern life. People would rather take a convenient shortcut in life than put the conscious effort into where they are going! How insane is that? That’s what made all the difference. I’m willing to climb as many flights of stairs every day just to make it to where I want to go. I don’t care if its 2, 4 or 100 flights of stairs. Baby, you must believe I’m climbing! Cause life’s a climb (if you think I wasn’t going to culturally reference Hannah Montana, then you don’t know me at all). I’m not talking to the people who take the elevator once a week but to those who never take the stairs. Taking the stairs once doesn’t count either. Its a two for one deal with the stairs. You get a cardio workout and you get to where you need to go. 

I’m so astonished by the considerable number of people that aren’t willing to hustle or work hard for their lifelong dreams. Let me give you some life advice if you aren’t willing to hustle then you aren’t gonna make it very far in your chosen profession. I know when you’ve naturally had an “easy” path then you aren’t willing to hustle. Simple! You’re lazy! People ask me how I stay motivated. Or How do I seem to be able to achieve so many things? I’ve got my back against a fortified wall! Every day!

Truth 2: Don’t forget where you came from.

My devoted mom was a single parent who carefully raised two kids and working her ass off every day! I mean every day! She willingly sacrificed her social life to eagerly watch me play softball for several years and drive me to local practices. My mom had hardly any money for extra things. I wasn’t walking into school with a fresh pair of Nikes or having the newest iPhone! We didn’t have money for those things! My first ever phone I got was a flip phone that was a second hand-me-down. My mom practically had to beg my dad for me to even get that phone. And I genuinely thought that was the coolest device ever! I loved that crappy camera because it naturally made me feel like I had something of social value! We didn’t have money for me to have lunch every day in high-school so eventually, I wouldn’t ask for 1.50 for every lunch. I knew we didn’t have that kinda money to willingly spend. I wore shoes until they had a hole in them and I got many of my clothes from Goodwill and yard sells. This realistically was normal for the majority of my life. I don’t have that many memories of shopping full retail. My devoted mom started working a part-time job for a local company making 9 dollars an hour and my beloved grandmother would, fortunately, have to pick my brother and me up from a local school while she was working. 

I undoubtedly lived in a mobile trailer for the majority of my life! (I don’t really like mentioning this essential part but it’s true). A private life was hard! I didn’t go on vacation every summer, and I didn’t have money to go to the mall every weekend and buy something. When I did go to the mall, I would have liked 10 dollars in my pocket and all I could think is that I could buy anything I want. When I got 10 dollars, I believed that I was rich! That was much money to me especially to an underage kid with no job and so 10 dollars was like a million. What does all this typically have to do with people not taking the stairs? Until you’ve experienced not having running water because we couldn’t pay the bill or until you realized that lights do go off when you miss an electric payment, then you may understand I will never give up! I genuinely loved my life but I want more! So if that undoubtedly means waking up early and doing shit that I positively hate doing then I’m waking up and conquering it! If that means not having a social life to diligently study for the MCAT then so be it! My back is against the impenetrable wall every single day! I haven’t forgotten where I’ve naturally come from and the growth I’ve made. 

My mother was able to turn her part-time job into a well-paying salary job and now she lives in a nice house and a newer car that’s paid off and people seem to think that we woke up in this nice suburb. My mother worked for 25 years!! That’s a long-ass time to get her dream house and send me to a nice college! 25 years of constant work and education that got her to this point! With that in mind, I could be lazy now. I could choose to get d’s, and c’s on class assignments and tests because I’ll still get a degree. I could typically choose to naturally take that cramped elevator and not be out of breath when I go to class. I could show up to class 5 minutes earlier and think that’s good enough. I could naturally put the minimum effort for minimum gain and naturally think that’s good enough! What if my mother had thought that same way? Then she would’ve never have pulled herself up to upper-middle-class from borderline poverty level. My mom has been the best role model for showing me that life is hard, but you can change it. My mom has given the greatest gift and continues to give me the greatest gift, and that’s self-motivation. If you want to change then in the words of Nike(or Shia LaBeouf) then “just do it.” 

Truth 3: Adopt a hustler mentality.

I’m not the type of person to sleep all day till two or three or even twelve! I can never be complacent with my life! I want to be better because I’ve got a hustler mentality and I’ve never been happy with good enough! A good enough life is not in my dictionary, not in my extensive vocabulary, not in my speech and it’s considered not in my life!! Screw being good enough! I naturally want a spectacular, and I want an amazing life, I want an extraordinary life and I won’t settle for an earned average or medicare life! My momma didn’t raise me that way! I don’t understand the mentality that it’s good enough because it isn’t good enough! Dreams are free and that was the one thing I could afford to call my own without anyone else. All I know is when you grow up not having much then you won’t settle for anything less than your dreams!