When the going gets tough, keep going

Even though this semester isn’t over just yet, I already find myself hoping it will be soon. If any of you are like me, you may also be hoping that your academic career can somehow be salvaged. For one reason or another, this semester has been more than a little tough. I am having to drop one class and seem to be barely getting by in the others. If any of you think that you’re alone in being demoralized, I’d be glad to swap grades. I’m sure after seeing mine you will feel much better.
I guess all the reason for the gloom is just to let anyone know who has struggled through this semester that it will end and things do get better … eventually. This last weekend I went up north and talked to a guy who I knew from when I was in the car business. He has been selling cars for about 10 years now and makes around $100,000 a year and has for the last few years. The first thing he told me when I said that I only had about another year before I had my bachelor’s degree finished so that I could get a real job.
One of the reasons I added that bit of information was to maybe help anyone who is considering giving up because they have an opportunity right now to make a bunch of money. I know the guy who I referred to pretty well and in having conversations with him, I know that he regrets never finishing his degree. His story isn’t unlike many I have heard. He stopped going to college about a year and a half before he graduated. He had a pretty bad semester or two and he was offered a job he felt he couldn’t refuse. He didn’t refuse and now every time that I talk to him, he tells me how much he wishes he wouldn’t have quit. He is financially successful in the industry he’s in, but his options are extremely limited. If a degree only gives you one thing, it will be an opportunity that shouldn’t be limited to a single area. Many jobs that are offered require that you have a bachelor’s or master’s degree but not necessarily in a single field. That way, if a few years into a certain job you find that you really need a change you can actually do something about it. You probably don’t want to be the employee that everyone remembers just because they went postal one day.
Think about it, even if the next four to six years are nothing but absolute hell, that’s still much better than feeling trapped in a job because you don’t have other options. Trust me, once you have a mortgage and kids you have already lost many of your options. Don’t think that by quitting college all of your problems will be solved. Most habits that you develop now will follow you for the rest of your life. If you give up now when things seem bad, you will quit farther down the road when the stakes are even higher. Just enjoy summer when it finally gets here and decide to try harder next semester.