The Big Picture

I work in an industry replete with grand ideas, challenges and goals. It's also an environment teeming with incredibly intelligent and altruistic individuals. People who are reaching for the stars and people who have the funds to support those endeavors. Grand, indeed.

However, the 'big picture' of my life is less grand. When I first embarked upon this career almost four years ago, I was intimidated and a bit shamed by the lofty aspirations and impressive achievements of my colleagues and donors. My own life, by comparison, was simple- and not in a good way. Or so I thought. But in the years that followed, my associations with these people and ideas brought me to realization that, however simple my life might be, it is only because I choose it to be that way. I am creating the life I want, not the life everyone else tells me I should have or want. My accomplishments are great in their own way- the work it took to achieve them is not diminished simply because I am not a world-renowned scholar or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Moments such as these are necessary for me to capture: the understanding that I am making my way through this world on my own terms and by my own rules. Others may not think so, but what many others think is immaterial. I embrace the simplicity of the road I have chosen to travel, knowing with a certainty that it is the journey I must take. I am writing the story of my life, not someone else. And that story is always evolving, being edited and refined as my world changes, as I change.

That is my big picture.