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Dustin Jarrett: It all comes down to faith

Dustin Jarrett, IC Columnist

It is a commonly known fact that life at college can be hard and stressful; you don’t need me to point that out. Many students have their own ways of coping with the stresses of college: homework, studying, time-management, employment, relationships and even religion.

How one handles the difficulties of these everyday stresses not only demonstrates what that person believes in, but it can often leave a huge impact on how they remain strong in that belief through those stressful times.

So what is it that leads us to our actions towards coping with anything? I call it faith. When someone hears the mention of faith, the initial thought is that it’s in reference to God or some deity, meaning the principle, iconic figures in a religion.

But faith can be something different than religious views. In my opinion, faith is a person’s strong belief in an ideal that can affect how they view themselves or the world.

One can have faith in many things, whether it be faith in loyalty, faith in friends, faith in love, faith in internal will and or ability, faith in set principles, and yes, faith in a religion or in God or gods. How one acts based on that faith often defines that person’s strength and resolve within that faith.

I, for one, do believe in the Christian views of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I know that many disagree with my faith and have faiths of their own, but I will never deny my faith in Christianity.

My point here isn’t to preach about religion, but to give advice on this idea: You must believe in something. You must have faith in something. Having faith in something you can cling to when weak can mean the difference between failure and success. Never let go of that faith.

As many of you know from my last column, I have a stutter. Daily, I have to have faith in my ability to remember all of my speech techniques in order to stutter less and speak more fluently. I have faith in my strength to continue to talk regardless of the difficulties of speaking. While it can be terrifying, faith allows me to continue talking with or without stuttering.

The way faith works is that one believes in an idea, a principle that can help them understand facts of life or even get them through a trying time. Many people use their faith in religion to get through each day or a stressful situation. They may pray or perform some kind of ritual in which they believe will gain the attention and favor of the things they believe in.

Faith is also used toward other principles such as will or ability. A person might sing a song or swing a bat with the faith that he or she has the will and ability to perform that action correctly.

A person may have faith in a significant other or in the idea of love. Faith in something like love can often lead to happiness, healing and even mental and physical health. Faith in a significant other often leads to internal emotional growth and maturity as trust and honesty is learned or strengthened when one has faith in the honesty of his or her partner.

Faith is vital to remaining true to yourself and for finding the strength to carry on, even in times of pain and struggle. Believing someone or something is watching over you, or believing in yourself can lead to success in so many things in life.

You don’t have to believe in God or another religion. You don’t have to believe in the supernatural or in love. I only ask that if you believe in “nothing,” that you find faith in something.

When you feel that it’s hard to carry on, have faith that you will. When you are afraid to do something challenging or feel that you can’t do it, have faith that you will be able to. It doesn’t matter what you have faith in as long as you have faith in yourself and that you can accomplish anything through that faith. In the end, it all comes down to faith.

Dustin Jarrett is a first-year majoring in speech and language pathology.

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1 Comment

  • Bob Barcus

    I think confidence is a more appropriate word for believing in oneself, powers or ablates and trustworthiness, or reliability of a person thing based on previous actions.Faith is a much to religious term, that also means a belief without evidence.

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