Eye on the Prize

I’m sitting here at 12:30am after studying for 2 hours after a 3 hour practice for my university’s cheerleading team., and I have to wake up in 6 hours to work. Lord knows I need a break, but it’s not a break to sit and mope about how stressed I am.  It’s to reflect on how lucky and how I’m humbled daily by the opportunities that have came my way. Stressing out and being negative is an easy thing to do when you’re rushing around without time to think about what’s next.  It all seems to pile up and then crash down in a wave of disheartenment when you see how much left you have to do before you’re done, and then the cycle repeats.  Once you start becoming self-centered and don’t keep your eye on the prize, it’s easy to lose focus on the bigger picture. Remember, there are always people out there that are less fortunate than you and that are going through worse. “Oh I have to wake up early to work *insert sob story here*” Wake up call: At least I have a job.  Many people out there now are jobless and I’m a college student, living comfortable life, and I’m complaining about the  luxury of having a job and stability. “Oh I have a 16 hour course load at a wonderful university and I’m being tested on material that will be a part of my career later in life. *Insert second sob story*” Wake up call: I’m not going to lie,  school and academics is what gets under my skin the most, but I have to remember that I am lucky enough to have the chance to attend this university, with loving parents that didn’t have the chance to go to college and are doing everything they can to put me through school so I can have a higher education, have a better job, and live a more comfortable life with my family.  I mope and gripe about classes all the time but I have to look at the bigger picture and realize that it’s not just for me, but it’s in honor of my parents and a way to represent and show the world how grateful I am that my parents care enough to give all they have for me to go to a four year university to get a degree. “Oh I’m so sore all the time and now I have to go to practice and then wake up early for workouts. *insert another sob story*” Wake up call: I have had the opportunity to be a part of a division 1 athletic team in my time here studying.  There should be no room for me to complain about practice or workouts.  Out of the 36,000+ students here, I’m part of a very small percentage of students who get to experience collegiate athletics after high school.  I have the chance to network and put myself out there and be an ambassador for my university. It’s so easy to miss these key and vital reasons on why I do it when I’m worried about my own sleep and my own time. The moral of this post is simple: take what you have and run with it.  Not all of us will have the easy life. We’ll grind, hustle, and sometimes we might break under the pressure. But if you keep our eye on the prize it’ll all be worth it.  Everyone has their own motives, and everyone’s eyes are set on something different. My prize? The first is to make my parents proud in all aspects of my life, especially getting a college degree, something they never had a chance to do.  My second is to be able to reach out to young, old, and college aged people and to be an influential source for them in the fitness and bodybuilding world. What’s yours?   Danny Quach is a senior at the University of Georgia and he’s studying Health Promotion and Behavior.  He’s a powerlifter at heart and has done it for over six years.  He just competed in his first bodybuilding show in Summer of 2011.  For powerlifting, he holds some Georgia records.  In his first bodybuilding competition, he placed 2^nd in Novice in INBF Southern States.  On his spare time he’s a part of the University of Georgia’s cheerleading co-ed squads; his favorite past-time? Throwing girls around and catching them.