Imagine that there are two types of trees. The first tree consistently gets rain, yet it has bad roots. The other tree has good roots yet goes through frequent droughts. The first tree starts going through a much longer drought than it’s used to. The first tree starts to die, but the second tree still holds strong while going through its drought. The first tree gets rain again, and it starts to grow again. The second tree continues to hold strong in its drought. The first tree becomes very dependent on the rain, while the second tree becomes very dependent on its roots. 

You cannot be dependent on your current situation in life. You have to be dependent on yourself. The first tree will not survive if it loses its frequent rain, the second tree will not survive if it loses its good roots. The first tree relies on its situation, the second one relies on itself. You need to rely on who you are, not on what you need. You will find much greater joy when you rely on yourself and not on your situation. Good roots are much more important than frequent rain. Frequent rain cannot be controlled, but good roots can be. So even when you have good things, don’t lose your roots. Because all it takes is one bad drought and your happiness will start to die.

How can you apply this to your life today? Let’s tie this idea to high school. 

In high school, you might feel a need to be liked by everyone and might even stop being you to appease others. People approving of you is like the tree’s “rain”. What would happen if these people didn’t like you anymore? If you went through a “drought” or hard times, would you survive? You can’t just rely on yourself because you don’t even know who that person is! Since you’ve spent all this time revolving around others and making sure everyone else likes you, you'd be lost without other people’s approval. You’ve crafted a good situation for yourself, and you rely on it.

  If something were to happen to ruin your situation, you’d be lost and confused. You’d be craving the approval of everyone else, but, without that, you’d start to “die out”. This is what I call the first tree mindset. You rely on your situation. You don’t live as your own person and, instead, follow a certain leader living off of their approval. If you lost your whole friend group, would you be your own person or would you be lost and confused because you’ve built your whole personality around them? 

Now, let’s look at an example of someone who has good roots. If you live as a person with good roots, you will find that you can endure droughts and hardships. No matter how long or how difficult the drought, you will survive on your roots. You have faith and stand tall in your drought, not because you're waiting and hoping for more rain to come, but because you know you and your roots are strong enough to survive difficult and hard droughts.

Life will not always be easy or go your way. Don’t be reliant on rain, but on yourself! Life is constantly changing, but, if you rely on yourself, you will be able to endure anything, no matter how difficult. Don’t build yourself on the premise of life staying the same forever, but rather build yourself on the premise that you can endure hard times because you love yourself and are your own person. Don’t let any drought, no matter how difficult or how long, destroy you, and don’t let any amount of rain change you into something you’re not. Rely on who you are, not on what you need!