Self-Reliance.

If I had to choose one piece of writing to read for the rest of my life, it would be Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, Self-Reliance. I was first introduced to the essay in tenth grade. My teacher forced us to read a lot of nonsense that year, most of which I honestly did not understand or at least struggled to. But Self-Reliance was a gem to me, a diamond in the rough. This is one of my many favorite lines from the essay (which is also on the bio page for my website):

"The power which resides in her is new in nature. And none but she knows what that is which she can do, nor does she know until she has tried."

This quote actually aligns quite well with Taylor Swift's from my last post. I'm a firm believer in the fact that I know myself better than anyone else, for better or for worse. My mom has always told me, "If you don't believe in yourself, who will?" The older I've become, the more relevant this question becomes. People are going to doubt you every day of your life. Don't be one of them

Check out some of my classmates' blogs who believe in what they do:

Lisa Greenberg
Brandan McCalla
Nick Swain