Here’s the thing: in the year 2017, reaching the the ripe old age of 24 feels like the end of the world. In your mid-twenties, having been exposed to the seemingly endless list of accomplishments the Mark Zuckerbergs and Evan Spiegals of the world, you are convinced that you’ve reached the peak of your youth and capabilities.

The crippling self-doubt that often permeates the thoughts of my mind and many others I’m sure, the insecurity and lack of accomplishments, the already sky-high stack of problems on my plate too often serves as a self-fulfilling prophecy leading to failure, because you’ve already convinced yourself that you can’t do it before actually trying.

If you find yourself teetering on the edge of an enormous decision, it is because there is always a nagging voice in the corner of your mind reminding you of the challenges ahead.

Discontent at work and want to quit? Where will you get money? You should have started on this years ago. You should’ve known better than to study liberal arts. You’re too old to get the hang of new skills.

Want to travel far and often? With what money? Why do you get to travel and leave family behind with their problems?

Have passions you want to pursue? Who is going to pay the bills and support family while you do that? You’ll be so behind others in the field. What if investing in this thing doesn’t pay off and you’ve have wasted time, money and have to climb over a mountain of disappointment?

Anyway, you get an idea of the self-deprecating whirlpool of thoughts that is my inner monologue.

The internet is filled to the brim with motivational quotes,  inspiring videos and articles telling us how to get it moving. But it’s not until you get some sort of proverbial slap in the face that really gets you moving and as cheesy as it sounds, it comes from within.

Yesterday, I came across the Facebook status of a classmate. He was in my debate class in college and one of the most well-spoken and level-headed people I’ve known–during controversial class discussions, he would coolly dismiss arguments with flawless logic and appeared unscathed by provocative comments. This is likely due to his being a top performer on the debate team, but the traits were nonetheless highly admirable.

He discoursed on the topic of risk-taking in a way that resonated with me: here’s a few highlights.

YOU must start re-engineering your brain towards risk.. LOOK, in order to gain courage, you have to start doing activities that require smaller amounts of courage and keep doing different, slightly outside the box activities in order to start moving on to the bigger and, ultimately, more impactful work via risks that will then change your life and those around you.

Do it for the countless children of immigrant parents, poring over books late into the night so as not to render their parents struggle futile.

Do it for the voiceless, in every sense, who yearn to be heard.

Do it to send a colossal stop in the face of hate, and force it to come to a screeching halt.

Do it even if you don’t care for our two party system, because taking a stand during the most vicious election of our time won’t be dismissed. We live with consequences.

Do it because the outcome of the other side would result in utter, abysmal chaos.

Do it for the victims of every hateful slur uttered in this past year: for the ones in the minority, for the people who choose what they love, who they love, and how they love. For the ones who will never allow their beliefs to cloud their ability to be good and kind human beings.

Do it even if you feel the Bern–that ship has long sailed (I know, I voted him too.) Do it because he stands with her, too.

I’m with her, for the sake of this great nation. Because knowing the kind of suffering the rest of the world undergoes, there’s only one thing we can do: be grateful to be who and where we are in the United States. We are great, we are against hate, and we will prevail to fight for what is right. No matter how ugly the politics are.

The decision is yours, today. Vote.

Perched high on the list of “Things I Would Rather Die Than Do” communal experiences of a New Yorker is the daily commute to work or school *cue collective groan*. Plagued by constant service delays, carts overflowing with people shoulder-to-shoulder whose combined stench provides for an unpleasant ride in an airtight express train,  as well as everyone’s worst nightmare in the middle of a tunnel –“we are being held momentarily due to train traffic ahead of us”–I think it’s safe to say hell might be a better alternative than the inside of the 6 train during rush hour.

Image Source: The New York Times

The upside, however, is that the rides are hardly boring. Nauseating, maybe, but you can always count on at least a few minutes of entertainment–be it the Earth Angel (though his sightings have been rare in recent years), a lone adolescent selling candy bars, or the occasional break dancers whose pole swinging act is a little too close for comfort.

Take this morning, for instance. The Manhattan-bound B train was moving along at less than snail’s pace. I had forgotten my headphones, a staple in my morning commute, in my coat packet, having neglected to wear the coat in favor of the surprisingly warm November day. My phone was buried in my backpack, and my fellow commiserate/boyfriend was falling asleep before my eyes.

I cast around for something to fix my attention to, and it wasn’t long before I began eavesdropping on the two Russian businessmen beside me engrossed in an animated discussion on their beliefs, namely religion versus science.

Isn’t it illegal or something to discuss age-old controversies at 8 in the morning? I digress.

Though the conversation began in their native tongue, the tone of their conversation flitted between earnest and heated, each determined to drill in the other the solidity of their personal opinions. The more pious man, who at one point revealed his Jewish heritage, made a valid argument against the other, which went along the lines of this.

“In the end, you are being hypocritical. Why? Because our beliefs are both backed by faith. You can dismiss religious theories, but you are ultimately using your convictions in science by the same faith that I have–relying on the fact that all your theories and concepts are factual because of scientists who have done the research, even though you’ve done none of it on your own. You base your belief on the handful of experts with niche scientific backgrounds who say all these things about Earth, and the idea that there are billions of galaxies out there…but how do you know? How can you dismiss religion without giving it the same regard, the same amount of attention and research?”

Barring the question of who made the better argument throughout the train ride, his point was a good one. Having blind beliefs with no ability to back it up is a conflict within many of us, be it religion on any other set of beliefs. Support for a political candidate without possessing deeper knowledge of their platform, ideals, values and plans can lead to disaster.

Whoa, where’d that one come from?