Commit to Joy

I commit to joy every single day. This is the way I lived life because nothing can beat what makes me happy. I’ve been blessed to have a family supportive of this my whole life. Yes, I've felt the need to make everyone else happy before me. But as I learned more throughout my personal and professional development, I am most important.

A perfect example is not playing a sport my first year in college. I didn't feel the same fire that I had in high school. My commitment to sport was lackluster. The best part was that I had everyone from back home saying I wasted my "talents" by not playing. Sure, I felt pretty embarrassed at first, but my DAD told me "As long as you are happy and keep working hard, you will be good". Boom, a great reminder to what was most important. I played sports my whole life and to have a year to really think about what I wanted to do in college was a blessing. It gave me time to get healthy. It gave me time to network with the right people. It gave me time to build my identity outside of sport. I played a sport a year later and was much more mindful of my lifestyle and academic responsibilities. I enjoyed this process as it helped shape my college career.

Of course, there will be things we don't want to do but need to be done. This is life. But I know when I'm focused and doing what I love, I take steps forward and don't look back. The people in the back making all the noise don't matter. I only care about the people standing by my side supporting me every step of the way. I commit to what I want to do, and being happy helps me be the best version of myself every day.