Gifs via kalingnovak

I remember the first time I rabidly read Mindy Kaling's 2015 collection of personal essays/pop culture hot takes/memoir, Why Not Me? 

Sitting hunched on a step stool in the corner of my university's local Barnes & Nobles, spent from working a six-hour retail shift, I dedicated my time to learning all about the woman whose eponymous show I was - at the time - a mega fan of.

Of course, being well-versed in comedy, Kaling successfully did the job of making me laugh - appealing to my pathos.

Though I have retained small memories of just what the book contained (I've really got to start eating almonds), it was the titular name and ensuing explanation that has since stuck with me.

Why not ME? 

Have you ever wondered that? Taken the time out of your day, and thought: 

WHY NOT ME?

That question has been a recurring thought in my head, playing over and over like a broken record - or for my Gen Z folks, like a song stuck on repeat - taunting me, haunting me as each month passes by.

Ever since I completed undergrad I have been searching for any and all entrance to the career that will allow me to leave the job I don't hate, but truly do not want.

And each time I feel as though I could be close to a breakthrough, yet another door slams shut in my face.

To imagine, I spent four years at university thinking post-undergrad life would be easy peezy, lemon squeezy.

I think my American-bred sense of entitlement to all I so much as pointed at got in the way of realizing that life is f*cking hard. And if you want something, I mean, really want something, you have to be willing to schlep through the shitty jobs, the disappointments and the rejections - oh the many, many rejections - and fight for what you want.

Because if you REALLY want something, you have to be ready and willing to put in the work.

Beyoncé wasn't built in a day.

Hell, my parents came here from central Africa and worked their way from the literal bottom, up - not for myself and my sisters, but for themselves.

They knew hard work could potentially lead to success, so when they finally met, married and had children, they instilled those same values in us.

And if you don't believe me and Mindy, just read this, daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly - whenever you so choose.

Work hard, be entitled, be confident, be brave.

(Really, read the excerpt to Mindy's book, it is very illuminating)