Musings

When confronted with the statement that, "you don't possibly understand, because as an only child, you've had everything handed to you, never had to work for anything in your life and you're just pampered", it kind of gets me fired up. No individual has necessarily said those exact words to me, but I've heard variations of the phrase. Obviously what a person thinks about me or anyone for that matter is between them and their own self-esteem, but I thought that I'd clear things up, once and for all. And this is that first and only time I'm writing an entry like this. For all of the young, ambitious only children out there.

Growing up, the two phrases that I hated more than anything in the world were "you can't have it" and "no". Luckily I didn't hear those very often. But the times when I did, I happened to negotiate with my parents until I got what I wanted. When I heard those words, those words that made my heart break and anger surge through my little body, it made me want to break the barriers and fight for what I desired most in the world. After getting what I wanted so many times, I knew that I had high expectations, and I refused to receive anything less. It gave me the persistence, the drive, the passion, the motivation that I currently have today.

Time and time again, people settle. People make excuses and rationalize. People settle, whether it be on a school, job position, salary, etc. But they rationalize it by saying oh, it's ok that I didn't go to this school because my education is the same as that top tier school. Or it's ok that I got this position, because it's 5 minutes from my house. Or it's ok that I'm making less because I'm satisfied. In my opinion, I think that people say this stuff to make themselves feel better, to boost their sorry egos. Why? Because they can't accept that they didn't try, whether it was because they were afraid they would fail or because they were too lazy to make a difference in their own lives.*And it's a really difficult to fathom, because I'm not the type of person to make an excuse for something. If I didn't get it, I didn't get it.

(*and no this does not apply to the disadvantaged)

But to say that only children obviously haven't worked for anything, that's a little bit of a judgment call. In fact, I think that it's ludicrous. Who cares about what I've gotten from my parents, consider me blessed cuz they can actually afford it. If anything, it's changed my outlook on life for the better because I set high goals. I've had a lot of accomplishments, and maybe it seems like they were easy to come by, but maybe it's just cuz I make it look easy.