This post is dedicated to Scott Mescudi AKA “Kid Cudi.” He checked himself to rehab yesterday due to depression and suicidal thoughts. At the bottom of this post will be a TED talk of his that had a strong impact on my early college years. In this talk he discusses self-battles, setting limits for yourself, and the hurdles he had to go through to achieve success.

I’m going to preface this post by stating that while I don’t believe free-will exists, most of Scott’s statements are valid.

The idea behind his talk is to motivate the kids at the high school he attended to think big and realize that he was in their shoes not too long ago. He came from what people think to be very little, but he rose to great heights. But since we don’t believe in free-will, we will argue that he had an innate ability to do so. We won’t control our thoughts, we don’t control our genetics. He discusses in his talk that he always knew he had “it” in him. When he wanted to do something, he never let his friends or his family to stop him from believing in himself.

In my quest to be more like Scott, I did not control how I came upon this world and ultimately back to his video today. I chanced on reading an article that noted him checking into a rehab center due to depression and suicidal thoughts. It made me think about this very TED talk that I saw years ago. It made me realize again that no one is perfect, and that we all have our individual battles to fight through.

We all go through physical, mental, and emotional battles. For Scott, he had the courage to admit his shortcomings and look for professional help. This is itself is a powerful trait that not many people possess.

I had a surge of motivation as I listened to his TED talk again today. I understand that motivation is fleeting, but Tony Robbins talks about how your actions should be made and taken when you are in this passionate state. Right now my passion is VR and it’s applications. I’m not going to think about reasons not to do it. It’s what I want to do and I’m going to use my resources to fulfill my wants.

Thank you Scott for making yourself vulnerable and empowering youth. Best of luck to you.