Just Keep Swimming: Go the distance

One of my all time favorite Disney movies is Hercules. In the beginning of the movie, Hercules is feeling the same way many college students feel as freshmen: unpopular and unwanted, as though they simply don’t fit in.

College is many things, but more than anything else, college is an opportunity to find yourself and “Go the Distance”. Often when we feel like we aren’t accepted or appreciated, it feels natural to shut down and close ourselves off from other people.

What Hercules teaches us is that we should instead never stop being ourselves fully and truly. There is no time better than college to figure out where you belong and who you are. Join a club! Go to an event! Talk to classmates!

Hercules faced struggles due to his inhuman strength mixed with his very human clumsiness and awkwardness. People mocked him and made him an outcast only to find out that he was destined to become a god. He went through countless tests and trials – successes and failures – to finally reach his end goal and become who he was always destined to be. I think we as college students can learn from that.

College – as well as life – is full of trials and tests, and, like Hercules, we will have our epic wins and crushing losses. It doesn’t matter how many times we win or lose. What matters – and determines who you will become – is whether or not you keep getting up and pushing forward toward that end goal.

I truly believe that there is a hero inside each and every person, and that if you are true to yourself and never lose sight of your goals, you will blossom into that hero, leading into not only a wonderful four years at Nicholls, but a successful life beyond that.

The lesson here is that every mile will be worth your while. Take that leap and go the distance to find who you’re meant to be and where you truly belong. Let that inner hero come out and become the god or goddess that you are meant to be!