For most people, graduation is an exciting day - the culmination of years of hard work. My graduation day... was not.

對于大多數人而言，畢業那天讓人興奮，多年的苦讀結束了。而我的畢業日卻不是。

I remember that weekend two years ago. Family and friends had flown in from across the country to watch our class walk across that stage. But like everyone else in my graduating class, I had watched the economy turn from bad to worse my senior year.

我記得兩周前的周末，家人和朋友們從各地飛來，觀看班級列隊走過畢業舞臺，但是我們畢業班的每個人都清楚，在大四那年，經濟環境每況愈下。

We graduates had degrees, but very limited prospects. Numerous applications had not panned out and I knew that the next day, when my lease ended, I would no longer have a place to call home.

我們雖然都有學位，但是就業前途渺茫。許多應屆畢業生都沒有找到工作，隔天我的租的房子就到期了，我要無家可歸了。

The weeks ahead weren’t easy. I gathered up everything I couldn’t carry and put it into storage. Then, because I knew my small university town couldn’t offer me any opportunities, I packed up my car and drove to Southern California to find work.

之前的幾周也并不順利。我把帶不走的東西都打包起來放在倉庫。大學所在的這座小鎮也不能提供我什么就業機會。我整理行裝驅車駛向南卡羅來納州找工作。

But what I thought would take a week dragged into two, and then four, and 100 job applications later, I found myself in the exact same spot as I was before. And the due date to begin paying back my student loans was creeping ever closer.

我想我可能要花上一周時間，但是2周、4周過去了，投了100份簡歷，我發現自己又回到了原點。而且我還要面臨逐漸臨近的學生貸款還款日。

You know that feeling when you wake up and you are just consumed with dread? Dread about something you can’t control - that sense of impending failure that lingers over you as you hope that everything that happened to you thus far was just a bad dream? That feeling became a constant in my life.

你了解那種一醒來就陷入恐懼的感覺么?恐懼到讓你不能自已，要面對一次又一次的失敗，而不僅僅是一個噩夢，這種感覺在你的生命中開始持續。

Days felt like weeks, weeks like months, and those many months felt like an unending eternity ofdestitution. And the most frustrating part was no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t seem to make any progress.

一天好像漫長到一周，一周漫長到一個月，那些日子讓人飽受貧困，而且不知道何時才是盡頭。最讓人沮喪的是，不管我多么的努力，都沒有一點改善。

I channeled my frustration into a children’s book. Beyond the River was the story of an unlikely hero featuring a little fish who simply refused to give up on his dream.

我把這些情緒寫進了一本兒童書?！洞蠛拥谋硕恕凡皇侵v英雄的書，而是將一條小魚在夢想之路上堅持不懈的故事。

And then one day, without any sort of writing degree or contacts in the writing world - just a lot of hard work and perseverance - I was offered a publishing contract for my first book!

一天，不是寫作科班出生的我聯系了出版社，靠著我的努力和韌勁，我最終出版了我的第一本書!

After that, things slowly began to fall into place. I was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with The Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after.

從

那以后，一切開始步入正規。我又簽約了第二本書。幾個月以后，我收到了來自迪士尼公司的面試，不久后就開始受雇工作。

The moral of this story is... don’t give up. Even if things look bleak now, don’t give up. Two years ago I was huddled in my car drinking cold soup right out of the can. Things change.

這個故事告訴我們，不要放棄，即使未來渺茫，也不要放棄。2年前我蜷在車子里喝著罐頭里的冷湯。事情會有轉機。

If you work hard, give it time, and don’t give up, things will always get better. Often times our dreams lie in wait just a little further upstream... all we need is the courage to push beyond the river.

只要你努力工作，不要放棄，假以時日，事情就會改變。很多時候我們的夢想只需要一些逆流而上的勇氣就能到達大河的彼端。