Hannah P.
Photography by Ashley Kung
If you're reading this, keep going, keep daring greatly.
We are all dealt different cards in our lives. Some people draw what we think is the jackpot, and others feel like they were dealt the worst hand possible. These cards don’t remain the same our entire lives. Circumstances change, as do we as individuals. Sometimes we draw a new card: an opportunity, a person, or a life-altering event that can make us feel on top of the world, like our deck is invaluable. Yet sometimes it can feel like our hand that we had worked so hard to build upon and fine tune was obliterated in just one draw: one mistake, one failed exam… or two, a heart break, financial hardships - you name it.
Sometimes we have multiple bad hands in a row, and it can feel like everything is falling apart at once. These times can feel so isolating and painful that even our safest of spaces feel invaded by the idea that those good, hopeful things we felt or dreamt of in the past are things we will never have again. In moments like this, I find my head is clouded by negative hyperfixations such as things I don’t like about myself or all the disheartening occurrences that are going on around us in the world. In this headspace, it can feel tempting to give up on your dreams, yourself, or even your life.
When life gets like this, when you feel you have nothing left, when you feel like you cannot be redeemed or that the chance of your aspirations coming to fruition have been wrecked, know that you are never alone in these feelings, and know that you never know what your next card may hold. The terrifying and even frustrating reality, if you are type-A like me and like to be in control, is that you must let go of the reins sometimes and trust the process.
The beautiful and glass half-full vantage point of life is that while there are all these bad hypotheticals that our brain can conjure up, there are equally glorious, breathtaking, and maybe even just okay things that can happen too. Remember, especially in Florida, there can always be sunshine even while it rains. However, if you give up, if you walk away from your hand, you will never get to “play the game,” and as much as our society likes us to believe so, it isn’t always about winning.
Sometimes when I am feeling low, I like to watch Ted Talks to pick me up. One night, I came across a Ted Talk by Brené Brown, and a quote she used from Theodore Roosevelt stood out to me. To abbreviate his awe-inspiring speech that I highly recommend watching: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood… who at the best knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
Life will not always be beautiful. Things may not go the way we planned. But sometimes life also brings us to even greater things than we could have hoped for: slivers of moments, people who make us softer from their love, or maybe even just the chance to watch the sunset in a place that makes you stop to think “so this is what it means to be alive.” Live for the hope of it all. Live for the chance that even in your darkest of times, everything you hoped for, and more, is waiting for you. You are deserving of so many things that make your heart clench with joy or fill you with a sense of pride when you see your hard work pay off even after days where you thought it never would.
If you’re reading this, I am proud of you for “at the worst…daring greatly.” Keep going.
Hannah P., University of Florida
Connect With Us
To follow IfYoureReadingThis at UF on Instagram, get in touch with our chapter, and learn about more resources available to UF students, visit our chapter’s homepage.
AUTHOR CONTACT
This author has opted to allow readers who resonate with their story to contact them. If you would like to speak to the author of this letter about their experience, please use the form below.
