Undergrad be gone.
After five years, I’ve graduated college and I’m feeling happy! When I started I was 19 and definitely on fire (not in the way the Lorde intended), but now I’m 24 and I feel like I have a future.
This past year has been an epic end to an often two thumbs down kind of experience. I got to take classes in physics and music that I’d been wanting to take for a long time, and it was awesome. I got to apply to graduate school and get wined and dined. I discovered that coffee is truly the best, and continued to see that my relationship with my girlfriend Darrah is too.
I really have a lot to be thankful for.
I wanted to share two things that I have come to think are really important for fulfillment and can maybe serve as a reminder for myself and others.
First of all - self expression.
The everlong journey, at least for me, of learning who I am, what’s important to me, and the ways to express those things is quintessential. So much of my life has been about doing what others think are important for me, or planning my actions around what the community will think. Do away with that if it is not helping you. As Hagrid said, because Harry Potter quotes are a real form of magic:
I am what I am, an’ I’m not ashamed. ‘Never be ashamed,’ my ol’ dad used ter say, ‘there’s some who’ll hold it against you, but they’re not worth botherin’ with.
There’s only one you after all, no one can be you for you.
Second - look out for others.
Check in with your friends and peers. See if they need help. So many people simply don’t care. It’s an investment in you, your community, and everyone else to help others. If we all only look out for ourselves, there will be no one looking out for each other.
If you don’t agree, voice it and be open to listening! I think the worst thing we can do is be stagnant. Don’t be as Umbridge encouraged, “Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged.” This only holds us back.
Be a person. Be human. Be it in the best sense of the word.
(I’ve been playing around with raytracing computer art, so that would be the image.)