Riley V.

Photography by Alejo Mejia-Tejada

If you’re reading this, you should be proud of how far you’ve come.

My grandfather once told me that he tries to learn something new every day. His goal is quite simple: to become just a little bit better than he was the day before. This mindset is a philosophy that I try to carry with me through every aspect of my life. If you’re one of my friends, you’re probably sick of hearing me say something like “It’s a great day to be great” or “Get better today”. The truth, however, is that I wasn’t always like this.

When I was a senior in high school, I was diagnosed with occipital neuralgia, which is a rare neurological condition. For those who don’t know what that is, the best way I can describe it is an incurable electric headache, trust me, it was about as pleasant as it sounds. In the recovery process, I missed most of the end of my senior year of high school. I also lost about 60 pounds and had to go to physical therapy to relearn how to talk and chew.

I spent a lot of time wondering how something like that could happen to me. As a kid, even though unjustified, you feel indestructible, and in the blink of an eye, I had watched everything I’d known get taken away from me. This left me feeling very angry and hopeless about my situation, and even after the recovery process, these feelings didn’t go away.

A lot of people knew me here as a very disciplined person, which is probably because I spent almost my entire Freshman year inside the gym and the library. What they didn’t know was that I was using this feeling of anger to try and push myself as far as possible, even through injuries, sickness, and sleepless nights. I had it in my head that when I would get to a certain place with my accomplishments, I would be happy, but that wasn’t the case. When I finally opened up about this feeling, through conversations with my friends and family, I learned an important lesson. The only way to truly be happy with your situation is to be proud of where you are.

I'm not saying that having goals is a bad thing, but rather that you should celebrate the journey and not the destination. The steps you take toward achieving your goals are equally as important as the goal itself. I know how easy it is to get caught up in the future, especially as a college student, when it feels like there’s more pressure than ever to have it all figured out. However, if you spend all your time focused on your future, you’ll miss out on your life. Live in the moment. Be proud of how far you’ve come. “It’s a great day to be great.”

Riley V., Clemson University

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