When I was in high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and the answer is still uncertain. However, although I didn’t know what I wanted to do, it was more or less implied I would go to college. I have no idea why, but it probably had something to do with it being sold in my school, like tobacco products in the corner store behind Grandma’s house. Inevitably I graduated high school with pretty average marks and it was time for me to be an adult and live my life. Thus I did the safest thing I could think of and applied to community college. 

My major? 

Undecided.

Now one interesting thing about my graduation is that I graduated in 2020. For all the future kids reading this, that was the year when COVID hit, and life as we knew it shut down for as long as half of us were willing to acknowledge the problem. 

What did this mean for me, you surely did not ask? 

Well, it led to my high school shutting down early! 

Many seniors were upset that they couldn’t go to prom, see their friends, missing those milestones. I, however, was not. I figured that given my situation, starting classes ASAP would be a bright idea. Who knows, maybe I could finish early. 

Spoiler alert I did not finish early; in fact, I just finished with my associate’s degree in what can be called the nick of time. 

You might think, “How in the hell could he not finish early? He had all of that free time, and he had a head start?” 

Well, my insightful friend, that’s because I was lazy. 

That’s what happened. 

When the spring semester started, I was more concerned about living a chaotic life of working fast food and partying. This led to me failing my first class with flying colors. 

My mom wasn’t exactly thrilled, I can’t say I was either, and even worse, it would take a while before I learned my lesson. 

I was stuck in a rut, apathetic, slacking off, and for some inconceivable reason, I somehow still thought everything would work out for me. 

My wake-up call came to me in the winter of 2022. 

Let me tell you, it was loud and hurt like hell. 

I realized that skating through college was not cool nor the key to success. All I was doing was hurting myself. Procrastinating and taking shortcuts. Ironically enough, all the shortcuts did were add time and even worse, hindered my understanding of the material. 

I began to see that I was also hurting my future self. If I ever wanted to amount to a career above where I was, I needed to take action and engage with what I was doing. Otherwise, I was bound to either flunk out or graduate without any knowledge of what I had studied. 

This fall into reality hit me hard, and it hurt; it broke me down to my core. The person I was then was not whom I wanted to become. 

I enjoyed the satisfaction that came with a job well done. I wanted to try. This realization didn’t come quickly, nor did it reach me alone. It took the harsh words that only the ones who care most can deliver. It even took a couple of times before the message was received. 

Eventually, I got the message and since then my grades have been excellent. I earned high marks and even took a position at the Schoolcraft Connection. I started putting more effort into my job outside of school. I found that this makes my life much more fruitful and rewarding, which is why I am writing this article. 

I want those who read this to never feel like they are too cool to care or try. Don’t feel intimidated by the naturally gifted and talented; instead, take the initiative to get better, whether it’s school, work, relationships, or all of it. 

Those who make an impact do so because they followed steps to success and are relatively too cool not to care. 

Take it from a 20-year-old college student. Hard work is the key to success.