Title: I love my life. No kidding. I do. I'm a young guy in his early twenties and I'm doing great in college. I'm going to grad school next year, that’s exciting! I love Computer Science. I'm having fun with friends. I ride my bike, even when it’s freezing.  Does that mean I’m healthy and in shape? You’re right. I have grand plans for the future and everything is fine. Still, I get written off all the time and I guess I’m not the only one. Personally, I just try to not let it get to me. Here’s why.<p>How I got written off: phase one<p>It all started when I was in my final year in high school. One day, my math teacher asked me what I wanted to study. I’ve always been pretty determined and told him the truth. <i>I’d like to study Computer Science in college, sir. Go for a master’s degree.</i> He laughed at me, in my face. Point blank. I studied economics and languages back then, and I admit, the math I was taught was pretty poor. A few weeks after, he did the same to my mom on parents’ evening. It’s this sort of event where parents go to and get an evaluation of their kid. <i>Your son will be lucky enough if he gets a bachelor’s degree and eventually graduates.</i> It didn’t matter much to me. I would go to college and get this damn master’s degree. I couldn’t and wouldn’t give in now. And here I am, my CS degree almost in reach.<p>How I got written off: phase two<p>My first year in college was all right. However, I had some problems with calculus. I (still) had to learn how to derive a function and calculate surfaces, while the other guys in my class were pretty much all ready for some advanced differential equations. <i>Damn it, I should’ve taken more summer classes.</i> That’s what I thought back then. Would that have helped? I don’t know. Eventually, I passed the course by studying day and night. Bottom line is, I got through and my grades weren’t even that bad. That’s great!<p>Three years later, I met a friend from elementary school on my weekly train. He was going nuts over cycling and I recently bought a bike too. That’s when I decided I wanted to get in shape again. I hadn’t been practicing sports for three years. That’s a long time. Too long to keep you physically and mentally healthy. Basically, he became my trainer and mentor for the coming months. I stopped eating fried food, limited my meat consumption and ate a lot of pasta (gotta love carbohydrates! ;-)). <i>Hahahahaha, you’re cycling now, are you? And you’ve stopped eating fast food? You goof! You won’t carry on, I tell ya!</i> That’s what many of my dorm “friends” said. I’m in my second year of cycling now and I love it. Still going. And I will be going harder and faster. Mens sana in corpore sano.<p>How I’m getting written off: leaving college<p>So… it’s almost time for me to leave college now and I have a clear plan. I want to start a startup. Actually, I am starting a startup. We’ve been working on it for two to three months now (not only coding), and it’s going pretty well. It’s got to do something with photo sharing. I know what a lot of you will be thinking now. <i>Another Instagram clone? Another PicPlz? I already share my photos and I don’t need another service!</i> That would sound a lot like my math teacher in twelfth grade. But that’s ok I guess. My dorm “friends” are reacting likewise. They think going to the USA to pursue your dreams and start a startup is ridiculous. Maybe it is? I don’t think so. Let them have their way. I’ll have mine.<p>What exactly am I getting at now? It’s pretty simple. Believe in yourself, because no one else will. People tend to believe only in the successful. A lot of us have a strong belief in top CEO’s and other successful guys. Take Steve Jobs as an example. He’s seen a lot of resistance from Apple around 1985, but he kept going. At the end of 1997, he finally got it right. He’s got his own child back. And see how it has grown over the years.<p>If you never believe in yourself, you’ll never get somewhere. I haven’t got a lot of life experience, but I’ve seen some pretty insecure boys and girls in my time at college. Stand up for yourself and you’ll be able to change lives. Did you ever notice how nothing or no one ever changes in your town? Nothing ever changes. Everyone goes to the same church or the same job, the same restaurants, the same swimming pool and everybody goes to the same basketball game every weekend. It’s like this huge fish tank we’re all stuck in and you can’t find a way out. Well, I may be kind of stuck. And I think the perfect way to be unstuck is by pursuing your dreams and by doing things you like. Pursue your dreams. Start your own startup. Create something. Yes, some of us may fail. Yes, you probably won’t be the next Zuckerberg. Failing is all right, as long as it’s <i>constructive failing</i>. Don’t listen to what others have to say all the time, because it will hunt you down. Do what you think is right. Just have no regrets and create some memories.<p>- The thoughts of a 22-year old with no life experience.
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