Monday, October 07, 2002
A Lesson
If there's one thing I've learned in my twenty years of life, besides the chemical formula for glucose, it's that if you want something, you need to keep trying to get it even after your initial attempt fails. You need to try three or four times. If those fail, you have to try again. If it really is important to you, then there are only three ways you could stop trying to obtain it.
1. You actually get it.
2. It becomes literally impossible to obtain it, no matter what you do.
3. You die.
Never become discouraged when your first try fails miserably/spectacularly. Look over what you did wrong and see if you can find an obvious mistake (they're closed for the day, you didn't budget enough time, her dog just died, you didn't do enough research). If you find one, fix it and try again. If you didn't find one, try again anyway. You might get lucky or at least be able to see where the problem lies.
A while ago, there was a girl I really wanted to ask out. First, I asked her if she was going to the office party of the place where we worked. She had a conflict. The next week, I asked if she was going to that week's after-work get-together. She also had a conflict. I then asked her if she wanted to go see the movie some of my co-workers and I were planning on seeing. Once again, a conflict (she only worked at this place one day per week, and had a regular job the other days, which is where the conflict came from). Then I asked her if she wanted to see that movie on Sunday when she didn't have work. She said she would, but that Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day, and so she didn't want to be inside, but went to the park with two of her friends. However, she invited me to come along. I'm very shy around people I don't know (her friends), but I figured that I had nothing to lose by simply going. I had a good time, and I think she got to know me in a non-work, not-alone environment and thus saw that I wasn't a raging psychopath (I'm good at hiding that). However, I wasn't sure if she was just being polite. Finally, I asked her once again if she wanted to see the movie with me (and I knew she wanted to see the movie), and added that this was the last time I'd bug her. Happily, she said that she'd love to, that the time was fine, and that I most certainly was not bugging her at all. We went out several times, and while we didn't go past being simple friends (I was taking a plane 3000 miles in about two weeks, so that would've been pretty irresponsible), we had a good time and still correspond. There were a lot of times where I just got frustrated. Being very happy can turn very rapidly into being awfully depressed, and vice versa. However, I kept my head (after requisite periods of angst), and my persistence paid off.
If you're a Christian, remember that the rain falls on both the righteous and the wicked. No matter how deserving or undeserving of something in the world you may be, you may or may not get it by a sheer stroke of fortune. All sorts of things may happen to try to keep you from your goal, but only death or the destruction of what you want can ultimately stop you.
If there's one thing I've learned in my twenty years of life, besides the chemical formula for glucose, it's that if you want something, you need to keep trying to get it even after your initial attempt fails. You need to try three or four times. If those fail, you have to try again. If it really is important to you, then there are only three ways you could stop trying to obtain it.
1. You actually get it.
2. It becomes literally impossible to obtain it, no matter what you do.
3. You die.
Never become discouraged when your first try fails miserably/spectacularly. Look over what you did wrong and see if you can find an obvious mistake (they're closed for the day, you didn't budget enough time, her dog just died, you didn't do enough research). If you find one, fix it and try again. If you didn't find one, try again anyway. You might get lucky or at least be able to see where the problem lies.
A while ago, there was a girl I really wanted to ask out. First, I asked her if she was going to the office party of the place where we worked. She had a conflict. The next week, I asked if she was going to that week's after-work get-together. She also had a conflict. I then asked her if she wanted to go see the movie some of my co-workers and I were planning on seeing. Once again, a conflict (she only worked at this place one day per week, and had a regular job the other days, which is where the conflict came from). Then I asked her if she wanted to see that movie on Sunday when she didn't have work. She said she would, but that Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day, and so she didn't want to be inside, but went to the park with two of her friends. However, she invited me to come along. I'm very shy around people I don't know (her friends), but I figured that I had nothing to lose by simply going. I had a good time, and I think she got to know me in a non-work, not-alone environment and thus saw that I wasn't a raging psychopath (I'm good at hiding that). However, I wasn't sure if she was just being polite. Finally, I asked her once again if she wanted to see the movie with me (and I knew she wanted to see the movie), and added that this was the last time I'd bug her. Happily, she said that she'd love to, that the time was fine, and that I most certainly was not bugging her at all. We went out several times, and while we didn't go past being simple friends (I was taking a plane 3000 miles in about two weeks, so that would've been pretty irresponsible), we had a good time and still correspond. There were a lot of times where I just got frustrated. Being very happy can turn very rapidly into being awfully depressed, and vice versa. However, I kept my head (after requisite periods of angst), and my persistence paid off.
If you're a Christian, remember that the rain falls on both the righteous and the wicked. No matter how deserving or undeserving of something in the world you may be, you may or may not get it by a sheer stroke of fortune. All sorts of things may happen to try to keep you from your goal, but only death or the destruction of what you want can ultimately stop you.
