YOLO. You only live once. To most people it’s just a popular saying notarized by a famous rap artist, but to me, it holds so much validity and motivation. We go about life everyday nonchalantly like we have all the time in the world, and we forget that you DO only live once. Time will loose itself and before you know it, you’re going to be thinking about all the more useful things you could have spent it on. I mean, that’s what happened to me. I was taking that awaited walk across the stage when I realized how fast time has passed and how fast it’s still going. Just ten months ago I was starting my last year of high school. I had four best friends, Chavonne, Randa, Nichelle, and Kai, a cool job, and a great year ahead of me to be filled with laughter and memories. In what felt like half the time, I was graduating without three of my friends and a broken home. I hadn't gone to Prom or Homecoming and I wasn't enrolled in college yet. I began to get wrapped up in work and my depression that I came to the conclusion that it was too late and my chance at college was over. I spent so much time doubting my ability to go that I hadn’t of even tried.

Eventually the end of August and the beginning of September rolled around and I began watching everyone around me leave. Many kids in my graduating class began to go to orientation and move into their dorm rooms, Nichelle, one of the two friends I had left, was going on to continue her life with her family in Virginia, and Kai moved with her father down to Florida. Everyone was moving on and doing something to better themselves…everyone except me. Life went on day by day and I found myself sitting around with nothing to do thinking about all of the things I could be doing. Opportunities just seemed to fade away. Chavonne lost her chance to go to college when she made a bad decision and got caught up in the law, and Randa couldn’t afford it, she couldn’t get financial aid because her parents hadn’t of done their taxes. I was not staying at home and I was unhappy and depressed because of the problems with my mother that just never seemed to stop. I didn’t have anywhere to go and anyone to turn to. I soon realized what would be my reality if I didn’t do something about my situation. Life is just too short and I refused to sit idly by and watch it pass, especially when I have so much talent and potential. I couldn’t let myself become the girl that could’ve been great, and I definitely did not want to be another Niagara Falls statistic. So I logged onto SUNY and began my application for spring 2013.

The moral of the story is you only live once. You will only get as far as your motivation and determination will take you. Don’t waste your time sitting around fretting and post-poning things until tomorrow because, what happens when tomorrow comes and your chance is gone? So here I am, giving myself the chance for a brighter future that I had denied to myself before. You see, ten years from now I will be 27. I want to be able to look back on my life and see how far I’ve come, to be proud of myself and have a sense of accomplishment. This is my life and it’s whatever I make out of it.