Why do we strive for more?

The pursuit of greater things is never­­-ending. People have this pressing need to achieve more, to never settle for what they have now. In a lot of ways, that’s a good thing; it encourages us to strive for improvement.

To achieve something, we must want it with our everything. This makes it our motivation. I remember my main drive to succeed was that I did not want to spend the rest of my life picking crops. It is a noble job, don’t get me wrong, but it is not one I imagined myself doing for the rest of my life.

It takes courage to rebel against the course of life. It is hard, but perhaps, life will be harder if you allow things to just unfold.

Joining the military wasn’t exactly my ticket to escape the mundane life of being a field worker. If being a field worker was hard, being a soldier was harder.

Back when I was newbie, the rigorous training––which included a lot of literal blood, sweat, and tears––almost made me want to quit. But with sheer endurance, I was able to surpass the challenges. I came to know a lot great men that helped me along the way.

True, I went through some of the lowest points in my life over my career as a soldier as it requires being away from my family and loved ones for long periods of time.

The ones left behind continue their lives without you, and when you come back, you aren’t even sure where you stand. As for me, I missed a lot of things like the birth of my son. However, I remember wanting to be the best role model for him. He, along with the rest of my family, became my drive to succeed in life.

My fellow soldiers also became one of the reasons why I don’t settle for mediocrity. I would push them harder in training, especially when I got promoted to sergeant. Not only that, I remember back in Bosnia, they were able to air out their pain and their anguish to me as brought about by the nature of our work. In a way, I felt like I had to push myself to be there for everyone even when I was fighting my own battle.

In retrospect, I learned to never settle for less. Excellence must be the way of life if we are to achieve anything at all. In all the things we do, we must always give our best. There might be a couple of setbacks and losses along the way, but we must push through in order to achieve the greater things.

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