It was my first audition for anything ever. The music started. All the hours of practice melted away in an instant and I forgot the choreography. A week after my arrival at UCLA and I was done trying out for one of the competitive hip hop teams on campus even though I had never danced before.
I have always been intrigued by trying anything new and saw a flyer for a dance workshop when I got to school. I went, learned the piece, and hit probably about three moves in the entire minute long routine. I must have looked like an idiot. But I loved it. Devoted, I practiced until the audition. I was undiscouraged by the poor audition; afterwards I tried out for another team and made it. Now I am driven every day by the realization that my hard work pays off and I am getting better. Whether it’s learning choreography faster than before or watching a video and seeing how much stronger I look, the fuel behind my drive to improve is seeing how far I have already come.
I realize how fortunate I am to have the abundance of opportunities that I do and I confront each day as a gift, a chance to take a step in a new direction. I attack everything I do with passion and zeal because I know how happy I should be that I even have the chance to try it at all. A friend of mine once said that if life is a journey then with my determination I must be a laser beam shooting down the road. I am pretty sure I am more like a runaway racecar than a laser traveling in a straight line. The laser gives me too much direction. I know that I am still not sure about everything I want to do, but for everything I decide to pursue I am certain it is worth confronting at a breakneck pace. Life is too short to consider going about it any other way.
Why do I do what I do? To discover and rediscover the thrill of growing and exploring what life has to offer.
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