No one, I think, goes through life not being pushed to achieve something. The achievement could be as minimal as remembering to turn off the light when leaving a room or knowing when to use a certain word the right way. As we grow older, the achievements grow and become life skills we need to survive. It starts with elementary homework assignments. Then, we start to get our first jobs, first dates, first cars, first bills... Then, we're expected to pay bills and earn salaries. It's all a part of life. Achievement is a part of life. However, the hardest achievement in my life has simply been living.

Since I can remember, I have always been pushed to get a higher grade in school. An A isn't good enough. As I got older, my grades started dropping because I realized that school wasn't everything. Sure, it will help further my financial future (which is very important), but making the grade doesn't make your life worthwhile. People and good work makes life worthwhile. One grade in a class that I took in high school will not affect the quality of my life.

It's been a hard few years for the United States simply because there are fewer jobs available, and of those few jobs, the qualifications are monumental. You can't just earn a decent living on a high school diploma anymore. Everyone needs to go to college and earn a degree. In high school, they tell us that we'll be better off later in life by going to college, earning a degree, and landing a nice job for more pay than people who don't go on to college. However, they neglect to mention that the jobs we're looking for going into college aren't the jobs that will be available when we finish. The hot trades in the U.S. change more often than a college student's major. By the time we get done, we may be looking forever for a job in our field of study and end up working in something completely unrelated. This is the reason for the double-major. Where studying two different areas in college may have been a stretch in early years, students now can often finish requirements for two or three majors in unrelated areas because they have varying interests and need back-up plans.

On top of the studying, students have to have jobs. It's not enough to have mom and dad pay your tuition every month. Students need rent, gas, groceries, and textbooks. There are also the occasional medical expenses during illness or field trips/study abroad experiences. Mom and Dad can't cover everything, and neither can having five loans. The problem with this equation is time. There is simply not enough for any full-time to study and take care of themselves while they also have to have a part-time job.

There is only one year, freshman year, that I didn't work in college. After that first year, I realized that although scholarships and loans and parents cover most of the expenses, there are certain expenses that arise that make one consider how important having a job really is. I first came upon this realization when my sophomore year began. My sister was a freshman and was receiving no scholarships or loans. My parents had to pay her tuition from pocket, as well as all of her other expenses. I felt the need to help out because my parents can't be expected to pay both of our ways through college entirely. Since then, I've had various jobs trying to make ends meet. At the start of my junior year, I moved into a house with three friends. I could pay my rent for the most part. However, after a few months, I just couldn't make enough. My parents started footing the bill on top of my sister's expenses.

A year later, I'm pretty financially independent aside from tuition bills and occasionally help with gas and groceries. However, I've started the second semester of my last year in college, and I will only be given 5h30min per week at my current job. Where I was pretty financially stable for six months, I am now going to be terribly behind in all of my bills. Naturally, I figured the numbers and call my parents. The first response was why I hadn't asked for money when I was home over Christmas. The second response was that when they had paid my rent, I had terrible grades. The moral of this story? Good grades = rent paid.

Of my miscellaneous and unnecessary spending since freshman year, I would say that I started college spending a ton of extra money for no reason. Now, I can't do anything outside of normal living because I already don't have enough to get by. I got older and more serious. My grades have gotten a lot better. I'm more focused, but my one mistake, one semester, haunts me every day.

This brings me back to achievement. If I'm meant to achieve something in my life, what is it? Is the real achievement getting good grades and graduating? Is being able to pay the bills an achievement? Or is the real achievement I should strive for simply being and living?