Drive

Drive. Driven. However you want to say it. It's something I've always questioned about people. I've talked to people who have it all planned out as far as what they're going to do in life and I've talked to people who are much older than me and still talk of plans of doing what they dream yet they make no commitment towards it...something that just doesn't make sense. Here are these people who I guess you could say talk the talk but don't walk the walk, and for what reason?

There are plenty of quotes out there that people live by, like the "Life is too short, so live it to the fullest" or "Take every day as a blessing because you never know when it will be your last". To be honest, those two speak leaps and bounds of the drive people have. Taking the bigger things that they don't realize are that big, which are being taken for granted. All of this could really be taken back into the "What Ifs?" and what if we knew how much time we had, but that's irrelevant. Which would you rather do? Sit around and "give it time" to finish things you'd like to do in life? Or actually go out and do something about it, taking control of the situation at hand? Hopefully it's the latter, but it's the one thing I've always realized. What makes us feel like doing nothing with our lives is a good idea?

A good example, if not the best example of this is college...which may be why this bothers me that much, but anyways...

Every year thousands upon millions of students begin their college lives around the world. Most have it together, but what about the ones that don't? The ones that get distracted maybe by the freedom of being off by themselves or feeling as if they don't need to give it a lot of thought because it'll be easy. Throwing in that some of those people who do have their lives planned out already or say that they're going to do something and never do. I could go on for days, upon weeks, upon months just asking why? If it were all THAT easy like some people make it out to be, we'd all be billionaires by now, ESPN would have a million more employees, and even TMZ wouldn't be able to keep up with all the celebrities. Life wasn't made to be an easy road by any means. It's one thing watching people who have already accomplished their goals in life, but to believe that following that same path is possible is ridiculous. At the end of the road would you rather say you took the path someone already laid out for you or to say you accomplished what you did your own way?

One of my good friends lives not by a quote but by a short poem by Robert Frost called "The Road Not Taken"

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Any time you ask them why they feel so strongly about this poem, it's the same reply of, "It's only a choice". For years I thought he just meant it's his choice to have that be a large part of his life, until I read it again and saw what he meant. It leads into that whole "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence", but who says it's always the right decision? Maybe it will get you into that comfort zone where you would be content with life, but does it hold what you really want in life? That one thing you grew up imagining you would be when you grew up. Would taking the easy way out just be another way of doing nothing about saying you want to do something certain with your life and losing the drive you once had?

This could easily go on and on with questions for who knows how long, but it all really boils down to a question of how driven are you to get where you want to be and do the things in life you want to get done? But all in all, nobody said it was easy, so go out, enjoy it, live it to the fullest and along the way, learn to appreciate not only the things you already do, but the things that you overlook as you get to where you want to be.

Half way around the world lies the one thing that you want
Buried in the ground, hundreds of miles down
The first thing that arises in your mind when you awake
Is bending you 'til you break, let me hold you now

Baby close your eyes, don't open 'til the morning light
Baby don't forget, we haven't lost it all yet

Don't know what you're made of 'til the one thing that you want
Is coming with the dawn and suddenly changes
The Monday syndicate meets everyone the same
All we've lost to the flame, listen to me now

Baby close your eyes, don't open 'til the morning light
Don't ever forget, we haven't lost it all yet
All we know for sure is all that we are fighting for
Baby, don't forget we haven't lost it all yet

Someday when this is over
We may still have no answer
For now it's when I hold her
We are closer, we are closer

Baby, close your eyes, don't open 'til the morning light
Don't ever forget, we haven't lost it all yet
All we know for sure is all that we are fighting for
Baby, don't forget we haven't lost it all yet

We haven't lost it all yet
We are closer, we are closer