Alexa, play Dark Sky by Big Sean (edit: mini player updated)
This wk, we reached 10,000 visits on this website! (a chunk of that has gotta be my own views being a nostalgic pc of sht every few months or so but regardless…)
It reminded me of a site I had 10 years ago, almost exactly around this time of year, I was 16, headed off to china for cultural outreach with my high school class. In order to raise $1,500 for the trip, I started my first ‘hustle’, selling handmade pillows and notepads to fam n friends, and even participating in a local Christmas market in Vancouver. I still remember the teachers and parents who came downtown to support me and how excited I was to sell everything I’d made, after staying up till 4am to sew and glue before school for weeks in my basement. (big thanks to SWFDS, Mrs. Newman, Mrs. DeBoor n my mom) That was the first time I realized I was capable of… doing… stuff? Not just having an idea, but following thru the project to design a logo, choose materials, produce the product, then market n sell it too.
That entrepreneurial spirit likely comes from my dad. My grandpa passed and his home burned down when he was a kid so him and his older siblings started working in their teens in order to move their family to Canada where they started fresh and rebuilt from nothing. Literally nothing. Maybe that’s why this life I’ve built in Japan feels so special to me. Thanks to the life of privilege that my parents worked hard to give me, I was able to move here n start fresh out of choice, not necessity. They hustled to survive so that I could hustle in the name of freedom.
A lot has happened in this decade; so much good n enough bad to prompt anxiety jus going thru memory lane but the only thing that matters isn’t where we are now but where we go from here.
As I continue towards my goals, there is so much fear and risk whether I’ll make it or end up a failure. I’m surrounded by blessings in this life I’ve built but I’m broke as broke can be and I don’t know how I will handle this next chapter as I take on new online work, volunteer, n other opportunities in pursuit of my dreamz. But I realized that fear is so exciting to me, as is change and failure. I don’t care whether I make it or not because I will never have to regret not doing my best to try. The worst thing that could happen is that I end up where I started and I’ll know it’s what the universe wanted for me.
If you’re reading this, I wanna thank you for your support, intentional or not, u’re part of the journey now and I hope u’ll stick around. There isn’t anyone in my circle who doesn’t have a dream of some sort, so I hope u’ll join me on this grind. I wanna see us all at the top.
“No matter how small, hold onto your goal.”- wise wordz from wataru kato
Here’s to the next 10,
A
anntanya 