Thoughts on Last Blog Post

It feels weird to consider this my last blog post for the semester, if not for the rest of my college career. Unfortunately, I will not be a blogger for the following year due to many circumstances, and though it is abrupt and sad, I do not consider it as a bad thing. Rather, I'd like to consider it an opportunity to share one last constructed ramble of life lessons and expressive reflection before I head off to whatever the future has in store. I hope you enjoy.

Reflection

This past year, I've learned many things in how to live in life (in no particular order) - commitments, priorities, value of friendship, promises, humility, downfall of pride, journalling, entrepreneurship, importance of timing, serving, maturity, clear communication, mental health, strong community, and physical activity. Additionally cooking, getting enough sleep, freelancing, creating good habits, being imperfect, being genuine rather than nice, learning to say no, running a business, loving others in an organization, stewarding time well, learning to learn, and many more lessons lay scattered in my mind.

Each word or phrase hits my mind with an overload of information. A series of life events relate to the topic with some conclusions or lessons I've gathered. For the purpose of this blog post, I'll share a few important things I've learned and am still pursuing in learning:

1. Journaling

For my personality, I find that many times when an important experience occurs, I can't fully process my feelings and conclusions at the moment. That's where I found the importance of journaling. Taking a few mins every few hours or a chunk of time a day, I write in a journal to hash out several questions I have: What happened? How did I feel about the experience? What did I do well in that experience? What are some things I've learned? What are some aspects I must improve on, both for myself and others? Through journaling, I've found it to be very enjoyable and fruitful because I've gotten to learn a lot about who I am as a person. It's helped me not only in understanding how I act in certain situations, but also helped me in recognizing my weaknesses and improve my shortcomings.

2. Creating healthy habits

As an upcoming senior and soon graduating, I find that there's going to be a lot of adulting that's going to happen, and I can't help but be hesitant over what's to come. I don't want my life to be wasted away on things of trivial importance or poor life choices. One day, I hope to have many responsibilities like a job and my own family and I know I will be held accountable for these important obligations. With this, I recognize that many of the habits that I'm building up right now will influence how I live in the future. If I don't learn to be structural in certain aspects of my life, these habits will become increasingly harder to incorporate into my life, and I will be more likely to compromise important commitments. Whether it's simple things like exercising more, eating 3 meals a day, or getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night, I hope to incorporate healthy habits so that I can do my best not only for myself but also for others.

3. Learning to Say No

I love doing stuff for people because I am inherently a people pleaser. Nothing makes me happier than the approval that others give me because of something I've done for them. But with this attitude comes a curse. There is a limit to what I can do for others, and I find myself overcommitting to too many things - organizations, entrepreneurship, volunteer services in the church, or even relationships with other people. Although I find value in these things, my concentration and scope of ability are stretched too thin when I try to take on too many commitments all at once. Because of this, I often don't follow through on my obligations and I fail to give my fullest, sometimes hurting people through the process. It's important for me to recognize what I can do and learn to genuinely say no when it's really too much for me.

4. Maturity

There are many times in life when I want to give up, act irresponsibly like a little child, or be selfish and simply stop caring. However, I know that I am living immaturely if I decide to do that. Being mature is a blanket statement that covers a lot of things: Admitting mistakes, taking on a job that no one else may want to do, gritting your teeth and following a conviction, clearly communicating, and being genuine with how you feel even if it may hurt someone else. There are so many other aspects on maturity that I'm learning and still figuring out, but I believe that many different aspects of maturity will be revealed as time goes on and I'll become better at living out a mature lifestyle.

5. Learning to Learn

I believe that education does not end after graduation, but it is a task to live out every day. College is only one season in life for learning - only one form where knowledge and wisdom can come from. I find that I've learned more things outside of college through the organizations and ventures that I've pursued after - sales and hustling as a GCP ambassador, networking and pitching through Entrepreneurship, and working in a team and doing management through hackathons. I'm still learning how to learn, but putting that as a higher priority is something I want to focus on in the coming years.​

6. Being Imperfect

In the end, I am not a perfect person. It's important to accept the fact that I cannot know everything. This acknowledgment is not an excuse to be lazy or not aware, but rather a comfort and a reminder that there's grace in a lot of things that I do, allowing me to push forward to what the future has in store.

7. Community

"If you want to run fast, run alone; if you want to run far, run together"

- an African proverb.

Final Farewell

As a closing statement for this blog post and blog, whether you're a first-time reader, or have been reading these posts since the beginning, I hope that you have been able to take away something meaningful from what I've been writing. Whether it's a small fact about Python, a funny story about hackathons, an intentional way to deal with recruiting, or another way to reflect and look on life, everything I've written was in the hope that you would learn and pursue things with an intentional mind and heart.

As always, thanks for reading :)  I've been really blessed to have had this opportunity to blog for UTCS. I may not have been the best writer but I've been glad to have been able to share a bit of my life with you guys. If you want to continue to follow me on my advents, here's my Medium blog, where I post about faith, reflection, and tech thoughts.

Anyways, I'm not good at farewells but I wish y'all luck in the future - all the exams you're taking, the advents you have, and the lessons you'll learn! Till next time (if ever). Ciao!


The views, opinions and positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments on these blogs are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of UT Computer Science, The University of Texas or any employee thereof.