JORDAN YEAR AHEAD…
My 2022 has been, as is natural come the end of university, a period of reflection and foundation setting for the next chapter of my life. The year has been filled with tons of new and energizing people entering my life, a move to a new city, and acceptance of a once-in-a-lifetime work role.
The biggest success of this year has been making the decision to abandon a comfortable career and job in Los Angeles to take a chance on a one-year gig in Santa Barbara. Four months in and that decision has paid dividends. And, because Mr. Baransaka asked, my biggest failure this year would have to be all of the lost time I’ve sacrificed—and still do sacrifice—from being afraid of failure. Changing that fear of failure into excitement at the prospect of success has been a focus of mine for the year; though I’ve improved, it’s always a work in progress.
Our class is graduating into a confusing time. On the global front, relationships between world powers are being redefined; climate change is increasingly creating refugees that will need somewhere to call home; and the 21st-century space race is pulling more attention for novel clean energy compounds. On the domestic front, our country is battling a war against misinformation without proper investment in education; technology is primed to take away the need for many entry-level jobs in the workplace; and inflation is making the American Dream of home ownership sound like something we should have learned in history textbooks printed in black and white
And yet, the world couldn’t be more ripe with opportunity. Coming back to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara in the summer of 2023, I have three primary goals, each of them centered around an aspect of my early adult life. Though I won’t divulge the exact details on said goals, I can say they are similar in nature to the goals twelve year-old me had for sixteen year-old me and the ones eighteen year-old me had for current-day me. Life’s always a work in progress. There will always be an end vision for the person I want to become—every day, week, and month I string together is progress to that end. The goals I’ve set for myself in the next year are there to provide the foundation for the person I hope to become by twenty-six.
So – what would I tell my twelve year-old self today? What would I tell that kid who was setting his seventh grade personal goals then? I’d probably say…
“Listen, we didn’t make it to the league—we aren’t living in Las Vegas and somehow still playing for the Lakers how we wanted…but we’ve pulled some other things together. Keep focusing on improving yourself and take pride in everything you do. Most importantly, try your hardest to be a true person to others and keep making yourself endure, what seem to be, uncomfortable social interactions. The rest falls into place.
P.S. – The v-neck and cargo shorts combo isn’t a winning look. And leave the sunglasses in the car when you get to highschool.”
I’m ready to see what next year’s Jordan year puts in place for the Kobe year immediately following.
