Never Settle

"Never settle." My mother told me this so many times growing up, but I never realized how impactful those words were until now. Those two words were and are the most important lesson my mother ever taught me. From when I was little through my adulthood, never settling has gotten me to where I am today, thanks to my mom.

It started with sports. I was a pretty athletic kid. I tried soccer, basketball, tennis, cross country, karate, softball, and eventually volleyball. In elementary school, I was always one of the best at whichever sport I played due to my height and build, but things changed when I got to highschool. I was in the big leagues, trying to make it on the volleyball team. I had never played before, and I was up against girls who had been playing since the second grade. I knew I was bad, and I almost quit after the first day of try outs, but it was those two words, "never settle", that my mother had told me so many times that kept me going. I wasn't going to settle for being a quitter, and by some miracle, I made the freshman team. A year later I was on a travel team competing in Nationals. Had I settled and quit, I never would have became a varsity athlete.

Next came boys. When you're a highschool girl, the guy you like seems like the whole world. I, like most girls at that age, put up with some sh*ty guys and didn't always stand up for myself when I wasn't being treated right. Thankfully, my mother could see things I couldn't, and if she saw that I was being treated poorly, she would say, "never settle". She was right. Why settle at such a young age for a guy that didn't really care? She was my voice of reason when I wanted so badly to pretend things were ok, but were really toxic. If I had settled for one of those losers as a teenager, I wouldn't know how a real man treats a woman. I never settled with love, and today I am living happily with my fantastic boyfriend and our 6 month old puppy in our new apartment.

The most recent adventure in my adult life has been finding my career. I was always a go-getter in college, doing internship after internship, getting involved in clubs, and studying hard. Once I graduated, I was kind of lost. I was working part-time jobs that paid crap, not happy with what I was doing, and really regretting the major I selected in college. I thought I would never find a career I loved and paid enough to be on my own. Again, my mother said "never settle", and again, she was right. I had my doubts, but even when I was miserable working at a job I hated, I was applying to new jobs everyday. For months I sent out resume after resume and got shot down again and again. I never gave up though, I never settled. One day, I got an email from a company asking if I would like to interview. Within two weeks, they offered me a job paying more than twice what I was making at my previous company. I am now working in a position that I love, and wake up everyday excited to work. If I had settled for my old position, and didn't reach for the job I deserved, I wouldn't have found this amazing opportunity.

Sometimes I wanted to give up. Sometimes I wanted to quit. My mother always saw me as someone who would achieve big things. She saw when I wasn't where I should be, and let me know that I needed to keep working for what I deserved. My mother told me to "never settle", and I never did.