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

对于大多数人而言，毕业那天都是激动人心的，多年的苦读终于结束了。而我的毕业日却不是如此。

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 during my senior year.

我记得两年前的周末，家人和朋友们从各地飞来，观看班级列队走过毕业舞台，但是我们毕业班的每个人都清楚，在大四那年，经济环境每况愈下。

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.

我们虽然都有学位，但是就业前途渺茫。无数次应聘都尚无结果，而隔天我租的房子就到期了，我即将无家可归。

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.

接下来的几周也并不顺利。我把带不走的东西都打包起来放在仓库。我知道大学所在的这座小镇没有什么就业机会，于是我整理行装，驱车驶向南卡罗来纳州寻找工作。

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时间，但是两周、四周过去了，投了100份简历，我发现自己仍然停留在原点。而我的学生贷款还款日也逐渐临近。

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.

你了解那种一醒来就陷入恐惧的感觉吗？恐惧那些无法掌控的事情，一种为未来担忧的挫败感萦绕在心头，真希望发生在自己身上的一切只是一场噩梦。这种感觉已经成了我生活中的常态。

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

一天漫长得像是一周，一周漫长得像是一个月，一个月一个月地过去，我仿佛就这样无止尽地陷入这种一无所有地状态。最让人沮丧的是，不管我多么的努力，都没有一点改善。

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.

我把这些失落的情绪写进了一本儿童书。《大河的彼端》的主人公是一条虚构的小鱼，书中讲述了它在梦想之路上坚持不懈的故事。

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!

我没有学习过写作，在写作领域也没有任何人脉关系，我仅仅靠着我的努力和韧劲，终于出版了我的第一本书！

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.

从

从那以后，一切慢慢开始步入正规，我又签约了第二本书。几个月以后，我收到了来自迪士尼公司的面试机会，不久后就开始受雇工作。

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.

这个故事告诉我们，不要放弃，即使现在看来前景暗淡，也不要放弃。两年前的我还蜷缩在车子里喝着罐头里的冷汤。事情总会有转机。

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，不要放弃，假以时日，事情就会有所转变。很多时候，我们的梦想就在前方上游不远处，我们需要的，只是逆流而上的勇气。