Glimmer of Hope

It does not mean you hate men

It does not mean you hate girls

That have nice legs and a tan

And it does not mean you are a

Bitch or a dyke, it means that

You believe in equality”

Need motivation?

To get an education. 

To earn a degree. There are barely any jobs that offer positions to people without a degree, or are on the path of obtaining one.

To prove people wrong. That science teacher that said you’ll never make it in the medical field? Make him eat his words. 

To prove yourself wrong. Every student has doubts on whether or not they can be good enough in the classroom. Prove yourself wrong, and always be better than you were yesterday. 

This is a privilege. Regardless of how much you believe that you HAVE to do this, to some extend you don’t. Realize that you have the privilege of an education even being an option for you.

Take advantage of what you’re capable of. Don’t waste a perfectly intelligent mind. 

More money. That degree can do wonderful things to your bank account in the future. 

It’s interesting. Studying can get pretty boring, but there are always those topics that spark your curiosity and motivate you to learn more.

It’s attractive. Not everyone cares for someone who is academically gifted, but a partner who is eager to learn makes me eager to take my pants off.

It’s useful. That random fact that you read in a random textbook can stick with you and really end up helping you out one day.

It’s fun to know useless shit sometimes.

To make your parents proud. This is one of the main reasons I study. My parents have always been aware of my capabilities and have pushed me to be academically better every year. They know I have big dreams, and I just want to achieve them so they can know that their child made it.

To make myself proud. This goes along with number four. Knowing that you accomplished something, however small or big the thing may be, is a huge self-esteem booster.

To be independent. There’s nothing quite like knowing that you don’t need someone else’s job, degree, intelligence, or presence to make you successful.

To pursue your passion. 

To gain knowledge. Whether its in your field, or a completely different one, being knowledgeable is just downright fun.

People will look up to you. Your siblings, your best friends, and your classmates may see you consistently studying, and it could motivate them to do the same. 

To make a name for yourself. “Oh yeah, (insert name here), I know them. Aren’t they like really successful now?”

To become your own role model.

To be able to pay off your student loans.

Because the long nights and excessive coffee will all be worth it. Even if it doesn’t seem like it now. 

To exercise your brain. Your brain is just like a muscle, and like the body it needs to be exercised. 

To improve your hippocampus. Your hippocamus is responsible for memory, and if you study your memorization will become significantly better.

To not waste time doing useless stuff. 

Because stationary is amazing. I could spend a whole paycheck on just pens.

Because notes are actually all so pretty. 

To be productive. I used to spend a lot of time on social media, and although I still do, the amount of time I spend studying and getting stuff done has definitely increased.

So classes will be easier. 

So tests will be easier.

To impress your professors. Get those letters of recommendation! 

So the anxiety of getting a bad grade is sufficiently decreased. I constantly worry about my grades, but studying has helped me not worry so much.

Because coffee exists. 

There is no other atmosphere quite like the inside of a library. 

So you won’t have to retake a class. Failing a prerequisite for your major really sucks, so maybe try not failing the first time around. This also saves you a lot of money because you won’t have to pay for the class again. 

Finals week won’t suck as bad. You’ll be used to studying so when finals week comes around it wont nearly be as stressful as for those students who are now opening a textbook. 

You won’t go to as many college parties. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for socializing and having fun, but a lot can go wrong at a college party very quickly. And there’s no better way to prevent that, than just not going to the party cause you’re reading your economics textbook. 

You’ll get used to FOMO. Fear of Missing Out. Every teenagers nightmare. Eventually, you’ll get used to the feeling. 

You’ll be getting the most out of your college experience. You’re paying for these classes. Might as well try your best to pass. 

You’ll get used to not getting enough sleep. So, if you decide to go to grad school you’ll have that department covered. 

There’s really good study music out there. 

I guarantee there will be at least 5 places on campus, or around you that are perfect for studying, and you’ll want to go there everyday. 

You’ll become a pro at writing essays, or lab reports.

You’ll learn fairly quickly that study groups rarely work. 

You’ll make a lot of friends that are just as passionate about studying as you are. And you will cherish them. 

Beauty and Brains. Don’t you want to fit that description? 

Thousands of students before you have done it, so you can too. 

You can run a studyblr. Aren’t they the cutest? 

You get really good at time management. 

Sleep becomes 5x more satisfactory after a night of studying.

To demonstrate this point, he picked two volunteers from the class, gave them each an apple, gave one a peeler and the other a toothpick, and told them to peel their apples. He gave them a minute, I think.

Of course, the one with the peeler got a lot farther than the one with the toothpick.

But the one with the toothpick surprised the speaker by figuring out how to actually peel the apple with it, and had gotten a decent amount done.

He had never seen someone do that before.

The speaker recovered and just pushed forward with the narrative of the 'right tools'.

And it just occurred to me how perfect of a metaphor this is for disability, and being neuro atypical.

We have toothpicks, and we can figure out ways to get things done with those toothpicks, maybe not as well and certainly not as quickly, but get it done, and actually quite alright.

But it's not good enough for most of the abled and the neurotypical, because we didn't use the 'right tools'.

Tools we don't have.

Maybe even tools we can't use if they are given to us.