Love. It is arguably the most driving factor of life. We go through our daily actions, performing the tasks that are required of us. But why? Why do we continue to endure when faced with overwhelming challenges? Why don’t we simply give up when there is nothing but pain? The answer lies in love.

Love of oneself, love of others, love of pain, love of joy, love of the beauty of life. We push forward in the name of love. We strive to make our fathers and mothers proud. We endure so that we can one day support the love of our lives, our families, forged out of our own struggles. We envision reaping the rewards of our hard work and dedication within the walls of our own homes, surrounded by the people we’ve brought into this world and the friends who helped us build our empires. The vision of finally fighting back tears of joy when everything goes right is our purest motivator. This is why we fight so damn hard.

Life will demand everything from us, costing us our old selves. But it will repay us in full in the end. So, we never give up. To the pessimists out there who consider themselves “realists,” saying that there is the possibility of these dreams not coming to fruition, ask yourself: if you are going to suffer hardship anyway, why not provide yourself with goals and focus through the pain to take that chance of having the life you’ve dreamt of?

Is it worth it to continue smoking away years of your life, to overlook the greater picture and fill your life with fleeting pleasures instead of pursuing the few that will truly bring you lasting joy? Looking back on your life in the end, would you think more of yourself if you’ve created a legacy that will last generations, traveled and discovered what life has to offer, loved and accepted others, and maybe have been loved and accepted in the process? Or will you be left with hazy memories of the parties you attended, holding onto the temporary gratifications of sins and the seductiveness of grudges because change and acceptance seemed too painful or too risky or just not appealing enough?

For those at rock bottom, there is nothing to lose in embracing all the pain that is bound to come anyway. Why not take the chance of a better life? If you stick with love, love is bound to stick to you one day. Choose love, and let it be the force that drives you forward, transforming pain into purpose and dreams into reality.