This I Believe

Life’s not completely turned out the way I’ve planned. By now, I should have graduated college and started a career in broadcasting or in graphic design–I’ve never fully decided on which. But thanks to some bad choices and a lot of spending, I’m now deep in debt, and forced to put school on hold while I catch up to my runaway pocketbook. I don’t even own a car yet, haven’t even had a lesson behind the wheel. And here I am, aged 23; I am but a humble cashier at my neighborhood grocery store, scanning and debiting the days away. But with each paycheck, I put a little aside, five dollars this week, ten the next, chipping away slowly but surely at the Berlin Wall of debt I’ve accumulated.

Determined that I will not succumb to the trap, the hole I’ve dug myself, I will pay down my debts. I will finish school, but on my own terms, accompanied with smarter choices, more responsible decisions. Eventually I’ll be able to afford a car, and in a few years I’ll be back on track, degree in hand and career laid out in front of me. With each bill that comes in between now and then, I look at it not as money being funneled away, but money that will inch me closer and closer to that goal. That goal is attainable, and nobody will take that away from me.