When I was a Freshman at Oregon State University, there was only one thing on my mind when I first started college: when does it end? I’ve been looking forward to the day I graduated for a long time because of all of the late nights and long hours of work that I have endured in the last four years. It’s surreal to think that I am almost at the end, yet I don’t think I’m ready to call it quits. I’ve always been keen on the fact of having freedom and fully committing towards my full-time job, but the ending of this chapter in my life is a little melancholy. There are only 9 weeks left in my college chapter, but it seems like there is still a missing chunk that I haven’t experienced.

Part to blame for this is having to go to college during the COVID days. I missed on on college life for about 6 terms worth of school, meaning I had about 6 total terms of “on-campus” life. My Freshman year was eventful. I put myself out there and was able to find people who I can call my friends to this day. It was refreshing to be independent and living on my own, all while having an agenda for finish a degree. Since COVID happened, I felt like I was back in High School all over again. I was back in my home town, and waking up for school in my room. It’s like I never escaped and experienced the independence I really craved.

I work hard so I can finally experience that independence. The separation that in my head, just makes sense. Theres no hatred or ill-being towards my current situation, I just believe that there’s just more for me to experience for me to grow as a person. I believe being comfortable is dangerous, and that’s what I’m going through right now. Being comfortable doesn’t always help me because it enables me to be lazy. I want to push myself to be a better version of myself, and if that means facing adversity, then so be it. I want to feel the struggle of what it feels like to be frantically scrapping for money for the rent that is due next week. I want to feel the adrenaline and rush of what it feels like to potentially lose out on something if I don’t work hard enough. I believe these experiences are important to my nature, because it builds me up to be a stronger person, mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Even though I have experienced all of what’s said above, it doesn’t feel the same when you don’t have the responsibility of becoming the breadwinner. I strive for greatness, and with greatness, comes great responsibility. Nobody is born just great, they work hard towards their goals and push through adversity when it comes. In the great words of Israel Adesanya, he says, “I hope the people watching me today experience the happiness that I experience right now at least once in their lives”. He talks about the hard work and the many times that he’s been knocked down, which is really motivating. I believe I really can strive to be great. In my mind, I have the power to be great, I just have to isolate myself to be great.

It’s easy to understand what Adesanya had said in his post-fight interview last weekend, but it’s hard really feel what he feels. The greatness in his ability to be humble and celebrate his victories is really admiring. I’ve always wondered what I wanted in my future, and after seeing his fight last weekend, and his determination to strive to be great, it’s clear what I had longed for so long: the ability to celebrate my victories for all the hard work I have done. Sometimes I can’t sit down and relax after I have done something great, because I know that it’s never enough. I have to keep working for my goals to become reality. So my goal moving forward is to celebrate my mini victories but keep working towards my goals at the end of the day, no matter how big they are. Eventually, I wish to experience the happiness that Adesanya felt that day, in my own ways of course.

I guess that starts on June 17th, 2023, my graduation.