Here’s something I’m going to say a majority of us college students are: music interpreters. I am an obsessed and persistent one.
I could tell you my personal interpretation of any song on my iPod. I grew up listening to country and slowly drifted into rap and alternative. Rock music was a phase for me that ended quickly.
That phase actually ended up transforming me into one of the believers that music truly does change your mentality of the world.
Speaking of mentality, have you ever thought of yours? What is your mindset on the world? I used to have the most negative outlook of anyone I knew.
I would think things like: “It sucks. Everything or everyone is out to get me in some way. Boys are out to break my heart, girls are out to talk about me behind my back, and adults are there to turn me into whatever they want me to be.”
After my rock phase, things slowly turned around.
I began to see the good in things. I began to realize complaining does nothing but annoy others around you, make you less attractive and make your mind trick you into thinking that you deserve this, or that every bad thing is “just my luck.”
Here’s a secret: It’s not.
Think of your favorite lyrics. Think of the meaning behind the lyrics. This is what your outlook on life is.
One set of lyrics that comes to mind for me right now is from an old country song called “Something to Be Proud Of,” by Montgomery Gentry. The song is about a father telling his son the experiences of his life and the many obstacles he faced.
No matter how hard times became, the father said, “If all you ever really do is the best you can, well you did it man. That’s something to be proud of.”
I know social scientists, statisticians and everyone else says there is only a tiny percentage of people that will actually rise out of their social class. The rest will stay in the same situation their parents are in. The point isn’t about that.
Yes, it would be nice to work hard and make the salary you desire and become the CEO of your company for your whole life and retire early.
Realistically, not everyone can be the CEO of the company. The point is to do your best and if that isn’t enough, then why stay there?
Don’t settle for a career that isn’t going to challenge you, because that will only result in failure. Don’t settle for a career that you don’t want, because that will result in misery.
Now is the time when we are dreaming, hoping and working toward our life-long goals. Why do they have to be out of reach?
Our generation is the generation of technology, explicit material and social interaction. Find your mentality, your lyrics, and follow through with them.
Don’t give up just because the odds are against you. Einstein or any other genius would’ve never been a genius if they had the mentality that everything was against them or every bad thing that happened was “just their luck.”
Here’s another secret: You make your own happiness.
Meagan Dixon is a freshman studying journalism and a columnist for The Post. Email her at md341410@ohiou.edu.
