People suck — not necessarily because of their choices or what they do but because of what they don’t do. Our world is filled with success ladders, where people have steps and ability to continue on to the next one. But when climbing a ladder, a person can’t just skip three steps or climb really fast No, this just increases their chance of falling. Unfortunately, I have found myself falling at several points in my life.

With all of the goals and hopes that I’ve set for myself, I’d like to believe that I have met all of them, but I’d be lying to myself if I did. Most times, when faced with adversity, our instinct is to give up. Instead of speeding up or skipping steps, some people have the urge to climb a whole other ladder all together. For example,  I tried out for the high school musical freshman year and didn’t make callbacks. I immediately turned away from the theatre program and never tried out again, despite being involved for the majority of my childhood. That was me getting off the ladder, crushing a dream all by myself.

I am my own worst enemy. I have stopped so many new ideas, projects and challenges all due to my own laziness. This reminds me of the saying, “when you put your mind to it, anything can get done.” But, it’s not as easy as reciting a phrase. It can be very hard to believe that we can basically accomplish anything because several of us haven’t actually put our mind to anything.  When we come across an obstacle on the way to reach one of our goals, our immediate reaction is to flee because hard work seems like an ominous figure that only causes distress and pain.

Maybe that’s why only a small number actually make it big, become famous or successful.  Very few are willing to go through the trial and stress that working to achieve a goal brings. I wish it could be easy and that the trials would go by fast, but they don’t. Success gets harder and harder the higher a person climbs up the ladder.

Some people are content with settling, they are happy with choosing a life of comfort instead of challenge. People don’t tend to choose this path because other people made them, or because of the nature of the world. They may blame the outcome of their lives on those things, but success is truly determined by the battle you wage with your inner self. It depends on whether you are willing to say no to the voice that says, ‘it can be done by somebody else’ or “it’s a project for tomorrow.’ I’m not saying that a few days off aren’t allowed, but allowing too many hurts way more than it helps.

Someone once told me that if you want to reach a goal and make a new mark on the world, you have to be willing to fight for that dream as if you’re fighting for air when drowning. If we truly want to make a mark on the world, we have to be willing to fight our own selves for the motivation to carry on. Our generation has so many resources available, but most of our time is spent giving daily updates on Snapchat or posting about our feelings on Twitter. This may be0 just because we’re often too lazy to actually get up and change how we feel. Granted, I’ve done all those things, but I know now that talking about how much I feel or wish to achieve gets me nowhere. It only leaves me in the same spot I was before: thinking about what could be done instead of taking action.

I can no longer look at a ladder and expect to go up the steps two at a time and make it to the top in record time. No — it’s up to me to think about my footing, to go up each level, and enjoy the view on each step, because every step is one closer to the sun.