Good afternoon!
Welcome to the official day two of the blog! For the five people that might be reading this right now, I am so glad you are here. Sometimes, the idea of this blog is intimidating- that all my followers on my social media know I have this now. But, nobody ever accomplished anything by staying in their own comfort zones, right? This is a huge jump out of my comfort zone.
But, here we are, and I am not a quitter. I will stick things through to the end. So many trials and tasks in my life convinced me to quit and to "give up" on what I was trying to accomplish. For example, during quarantine, I wanted to have a project. I decided that the project I wanted to work on was to be fluent in Spanish. Spanish isn't too easy either. So many times mid-way through studying (I would study for like 3-4 hours a day during quarantine), I would think "this is too difficult" or "I'm not in a house of Spanish speakers, so this is going to be impossible for me to do." Every single day when the lessons got harder, there was a little voice in my head saying that I wasn't smart enough for this, or that I should just "give up now". I know for myself that sometimes I can have very little confidence in myself when it comes to strenuous activities or projects. I'm quick to give the harder jobs to people that I think could handle it better, basically having no trust in myself. But, after long hours and months of studying Spanish and going out to restaurants and work establishments and speaking Spanish with the workers, I can now easily say that I am fluent. Can I understand every single sentence people say to me and be able to instantly respond without thinking twice? No. But, can I have a full conversation with somebody and be able to efficiently communicate with a non-English speaker? And they understand me? 110%. And I love every second of talking with non-English speakers. It opens up a world of new opportunity and different cultures.
Projects that you choose to start are unique to you. I am a residence hall assistant at my college, so I live in a hallway full of new college freshman. And as much sometimes as they might make me annoyed by some of the little things they do (like being loud past quiet hours which always seems to be an ongoing battle), they inspire me. Those freshman are so much more mature and driven than I ever was as a freshman in college. I was more worried about what party I was going to or what group of friends I was going to be with. The LAST thing I was worried about was grades or what I was going to be in the future. Coming into freshman year, I was a political science major. Then, mid way through the year, I changed to communications. Both of these subjects I felt like I wasn't being challenged, so I didn't care. I got C's and D's in classes that I could have easily put in the work and gotten A's. Now, being a junior in college, I want to kick myself because I brought down my GPA so badly freshman year. I get great grades now, taking much harder classes too, but I am still digging myself out of the hole I made for myself freshman year when I didn't care.
Anyway, though, I have a hallway of (mostly) all freshman athletes. And being a collegiate swimmer myself, I can relate to what it is like to be an athlete in college. It is really like a full time job to compete in athletics in the college level. Practice every day (sometimes two), meetings, meets, games, paperwork, lifting, the list goes on! It is very difficult to balance academics, athletics, social life, and even having a relationship. But, at the end of a long day of school, practices, and meetings, the best part of my job as a residence hall assistant is sitting down in the (living room) common area and just talking with the people in my hallway. They, too, are burnt out with their busy schedules at this point in the evening too. Some of them even have rigorous majors like biology, chemistry, or nursing, and they are grinding every single second of the day. Even though I can't relate to their non-stop studying since I am only an international business major, I listen to them and I try my best to motivate them.
The point to where I was trying to go with this example, is that this one guy on my floor that I get along great with was talking to me one night. This one night we were kind of just talking about life and pretty much everything that a student athlete in college has to go through, but he said something to me that really flipped a switch in my head. Honestly, it helped me to flip the switch in my head and pursue what I love in life.
This one guy said, "You want to see what I did today?", and he opened his phone and showed me the photography that he took during the course of his day. And it was good, too! Pictures of trees, the sky, birds, and the beautiful semi-rural western Pennsylvanian landscape in which we live in. I was shocked. This individual is a passionate baseball player and student, but I never knew that he had a love for photography. I have a deep appreciation for people who are moved by the arts and want to share their love with the rest of the world. I am a firm believer that we need more arts and love in this world and stress and numbers. I do acknowledge that numbers and businesses make the world go 'round, but if somebody has a passion for the arts, they should 100% pursue that and share their gifts with the world. Same for if somebody is passionate about coding, or teaching, or accounting, finance, languages, medicine, athletics, use your gifts for change. BE THE CHANGE that you want to see in the world.
Anyway, I responded to this individual and said "Dude, those are fantastic!' and I remember seeing the excited yet blushing look on his face. "Thanks," he said, chuckling. And since then, he was so quick to show me his other photography work and to tell me that he has had a passion for it since a young age. Now, he wants to make a social media page to share his best photography. He is also making money by taking photoshoots for people around campus.
Moments like THIS are what gets me out of bed in the morning. Helping people find THEIR TRUE self is what makes me motivated. That look that he gave me when I encouraged him- I will always remember. He gave a look of excitement and drive for life. In a world that could be so scary and intimidating, with classes and deadlines and to-do lists, the ability to have something that you love in your back pocket is one of the best things about being human. It is what still makes you love your day, your life, and yourself. For some it might be photography, or sculptures, or painting, or cars, or graphic designing, or dancing, or knitting (one of my best friends who is also a residence hall assistant with me HAS SUCH A GIFT for knitting like it is so crazy good. Maybe I will showcase some of her work on my social media page.). Or my girlfriend who is so driven by studio art and has new ideas for pieces every day (I will showcase some of her art too). Or my other friend who is driven by graphic design and can make extraordinary pieces on computer applications that are unmatched. Or even one of my best friends, who I just made this year, who is driven by competition in football. He lives, breathes, and loves the game of football. THAT is what he is passionate about, even since such a young age. And he is mature enough to know that. He has other things in life that he wants to accomplish just incase the game doesn't work in his favor, but he gets up in the morning with football on the brain. THAT is how he wants to impact the world. And honestly, writing about this really makes me so excited. I have only recently rediscovered my love for writing. I've loved writing all of my life- with making new stories and having new ideas and goals. But, for so long I was trying to fit into a world where I was trying to be somebody who I wasn't. I was trying to be a "numbers" guy or a "die-hard athlete" like some of my friends. And I felt like I wasn't good enough. That I wasn't being my true self. And I know one thing that I CAN compete in, and be part of, is writing. What I am doing right now (as I sit on my couch in the middle of the day, typing away on my computer) is my thing. Is what I love doing. Is what I can contribute to the world.
And I am not saying that working in a field that is different from what you are passionate about is necessarily a bad thing. Odds are, I might get a corporate internship this summer. Or a job in a restaurant, and teaching lifeguard classes for incoming lifeguards. And this is alright, in my opinion. Nobody ever started at young age doing exactly what they wanted. Some people worked regular jobs in their twenties to save up a lot of money, then to OPEN their own bakery, or art gallery, to showcase their work. To make THAT their living. I do not know of many success stories of people who didn't start at the bottom. I don't know many success stories that didn't start out with somebody barely having enough money to "get by". One of my teachers who I love to work with, who is incredibly successful all around (monetarily, socially, with his family, and very respected), told my class that he started his own company. And, while he started his own company, for the first 3 years he had no income. He said that those years were very hard times for him and his wife. But, after strenuous dedication and work to his business- he never gave up. Years later, he was was able to SELL his company that he established for millions of dollars. Now, he teaches at my college and lives a very comfortable life.
Nobody ever accomplished ANYTHING while staying in their comfort zone.
So that is my message for today. I started typing this blog post having no idea where it would go, but I am glad that it ended up being about this. I am glad I also was able to hype up some of my friends in the post as well. I really have some pretty amazing people in my life and I am so glad that I can do day-to-day with them. God has really blessed me with so much. And for the maybe 5 people that are reading this post right now, God has blessed me with you too.
Until the next post,
-TJO
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