The Stars Ahead

As this year approaches the end, a new beginning awaits. This journey has been quite adventurous, filled with boundless learning, unexpected outcomes, twists and turns, facing mortal fears and more.

This year began with a nursery rhyme, as I was put on the spot to sing with my horrible singing skills, despite vocal training for 14 years (I suppose it excludes nursery rhymes). It comes to a close, you might think, but for me it will never. As high as the stars are above us, our dreams and aspirations may rise higher.

My Original Work, as long as it believes “plastic” is the answer to all questions, will be a work-in-progress. The concept of abandoning my dear model, my dear project does not exist for me. This year, I dared to jump as high as I could, with no ropes attached, trusting myself to be able to learn and grow - the most important part. Now that I have tried jumping, I have realized that learning more fundamentals will give me a stepping stone, a mountain, to support me and to help me reach even further. Focusing more on the pieces that I need, now that I do not have a time crunch, will allow me to truly accomplish more.

The search for a mentor will continue for me. I believe guidance is crucial to the learning process because who else is better to share their experiences, passion and belief? Mentorship certainly does not end here with the close of this year, and will stay with me for the rest of my life, constantly learning from others, observing them as there is loads to learn from each person. The most valuable lesson I learned this year regarding my search for a mentor was that sometimes, there are unexpected obstacles that fall like asteroids. Our expected results are not always the results we get, and these unexpected obstacles cannot be avoided as they are out of our control. What I can do, however, is to accept it and continue to persevere.

I came with the sole goal of conquering my fear of speaking to strangers and speaking at interviews. The confidence that I have gained today is a result of all the practice I have gained this year, every time I was forced to step out of my comfort zone. There was no going back once I promised a professional I would be there for the interview, therefore I had to speak to people I had never met before. This is how I learned, and this is how I conquered my fear. All I had to do was push myself, take a deep breath, and take that step forward. All I had to do was put myself in those uncomfortable situations more often to become more comfortable. All I had to do was live outside the bubble to pop it.

There will be several hoops to jump through, more stars to jump towards and more asteroids along the way. However, each step forward, each bit of progress is confidence that more steps can be done, more challenges can be fought. There will be challenges guaranteed and “it is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed”. Thank you Theodore Roosevelt, and thank you.