A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With A Single Step
Embracing Isaac at my College Graduation (circa 2016)
I started college in 2005. I graduated from UCSD in 2016. In between that time, I've managed to get kicked out of college, work as a server at a restaurant, have a place with some roommates, move to Scripps Ranch, get accepted back to UCSD, have a son, get engaged, work at a Forbes 500 company, become a software engineer, study, take finals, and walk at my graduation ceremony. It was a very hard, long, excruciating, testing, and humbling experience. But when I look at the picture to the left, I know that I'm setting an example for my son that regardless of the hurdles and pains and struggles we go through in life, we can overcome them, and we can embrace our accomplishments with more wisdom, faith, and insight that we have gained along the way.
One of my favorite works of art is The Great Wave off Kanagawa and I recently saw a TED talk in which the speaker announces two truths: 1) Problems are solvable, and 2) Problems are inevitable. And I understand so clearly how both the print series and the video relate to me personally. Waves like problems, are inevitable and may occur on a daily basis. But no matter how daunting they may be, it is always possible to come out the other side. I told myself my goal is to graduate. I told myself to pass or fail, each day I choose to head towards my goal. Whether I succeed or not, I accept the outcome of my effort. You see, a lot of things in life are out of our hands and out of our control. And even though we may want a desirable outcome, we know it doesn't always end up in our favor.
Though we may stumble and fall at times, it's all part of the process in our journey where we obtain the gem of knowledge of what didn't work, what did, what we can change, and what we can do better. And because of that insight, we've learned to navigate the journey a little better each time. For me, a goal that I sought out to achieve was to graduate from UCSD. And I accomplished that. Who else do you know that can say they were accepted to UCSD twice?
