Mentor Blog 3

Due to the craziness of April, I was only able to talk to my mentor briefly. It's shocking and humbling to know that even the people we look up to as mentor figures go through hard times and even failures. My Mentor was sharing with me how hard school is getting as it gets closer to finals and also how his outlook for this summer does not look so great. During our conversation, we talked about staying motivated and trusting in God in the midst of hard times and failures.

My mentor shared with me how he gets close to 5 hours of sleep most nights of the week because of all of the work he has. Although he is my mentor and I am the mentee, my mentor sharing his hardships with me was humbling because I realized that even the people who we think have it all together struggle with their own problems. After he shared, I was also able to share some of the struggles that I’ve been having academically as well. One of the things that we both vocalized was our abilities to stay motivated. This time of year especially, it is hard to work with the same diligence that we have at the beginning of the school year. My mentor was telling me that working without motivation is trying to drive a car without gas. Without motivation, we can only get so far in terms of our studies. My mentor reminded me of the importance of going back and reminding ourselves why were studying and doing all the work that we do, and also that we have made the choice to be here. With this being a choice we have made, we should take responsibility and continue to work hard. Hearing my mentor tell me to work hard and be motivated while he was also struggling was encouraging. If he can stay motivated in the midst of his crazy workload, so can I.

One of the other things that he shared with me were the internships that he applied for. My mentors a pre-med student so he was trying to intern at hospitals over the summer in order to get some working experience. However, the results came in and sadly he was not able to get any of the ones that he wanted. He shared with me that he was pretty disappointed and that now he has to figure out something else to do that’s productive over the summer. However, what shocked me was his ability to stay calm and not worry. Even though his plans were not going the way he had planned, his tone gave off the impression that he still had everything together. I made fun of him that he never worries and he replied: “I don’t have to”. As simple as it is, my mentor was right. He told me how when we actually trust the God whom we say we live for, that means our futures are in God’s hands. When this is the case there is no need to worry no matter what we do, we have a God who loves us and has good plans for us; even when those plans aren’t what we want for ourselves.

Although this was a short conversation, it was super life-giving and gave me the motivation to push through. With tons of papers, projects, and finals coming up, I’m constantly reminding myself to stay motivated and not worry too much on the result but more on putting in the work and trusting in God about the result.