Passing the Halfway Mark

This week, I am starting my junior year at Loyola Marymount University. I have completed two years, and I have two years left to go. I am passing the halfway mark.

Milestones are important to me. It's not because the milestones themselves hold some vague significance. Rather, they provide a reminder to reflect on the past and dream about the future.

Often, I find that I get caught in the day-to-day grind. I forget how far I have come and how amazing the future can be. 

What are some of your successes from the past two years? What are some of your failures? I am sure that there are aspects of your life that you would have never seen coming even just two years ago.

I would never have imagined that I would be writing a weekly blog, would have interned at The Motley Fool, and that I would still have so many half-finished books on my bookshelf.

In the moment, we often forget how long the journey is. Looking back we can remember the hurdles that we overcame and the people that helped us along the way.

It is encouraging to me when I look at the challenges in front of me, to remember the hard-fought triumphs of years past. Past results do not guarantee future success, but, man, do they make it easier to envision.

Reflecting on the past is also humbling. Looking back over the past few years, it is undeniable that any success that I have had is largely attributable to the great men and women who have been kind enough to touch my life. No great journey is made entirely on one's own. Reflecting helps us to remember that we should not take all of the credit on past journeys, and that we ought not fear making future journeys on our own.

In high school, I enjoyed running the 400-meter, at least as much as anyone can enjoy it. My strategy was simple. I would get up to speed and stay near the leaders for the first half. Then, I would give it everything that I had left as we started on the back half. Sometimes this resulted in a win. Other times I would not have enough race left to catch the leader. But one thing was always true. It felt so good to run holding nothing back. This is my dream for the last two years of college.

I want to run with no fear, chase after dreams with no hesitation, and savor the experience, even as it flies by. 

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