Looking at Future

When I came back home, a lot of people asked me what I want to do in the future. I have always thought that I have a clear answer for that question; however, I tend to leave a blank answer recently.

I always want to work for a nonprofit so I can travel around the world, implement projects and help others. However last summer I went to a networking event in NYC and met a really great lady. She told me she is now working for GE although her real passion is nonprofits. I asked her why she pursued a totally different career track and she said sometimes she has to go the other way around. She also said having a stable income will better assist her long term goal as a career with nonprofits cannot guarantee her a stable life. Her advice made me realize the difference between reality and passion. Sometimes those two notions do not coincide which mean I have to find my way to bring them together.

Recently some new friends come to my life and become very important people to me. They
influence me to rearrange my priorities in life and I realize sometimes I have to sacrifice my dream for someone else's. I did not regret what I chose to do. It just feels like it's very to unstable to plan my future based on others's expectations. However, I knew that someday I can make my dream happen. Rather than sacrificing, I just put my dream aside so I can assist my friends and be well prepared for my dream.

Now I am asking myself what I need to do? I'm not sure what kind of jobs I want after graduation. I don't know what would be the best way to make things work out for me and others? I guess I'll just let things unfold and try my best to fulfill what's there for me.

Home Sweet Home

All of the familiar faces, the big smiles, and the inside jokes brought back sweet memories. I realized sometimes I forget how much my family means to me. I still love my family members as who they are, and I still feel the invisible bonds with them, but the distances gradually drive me away from my family . After being away from home for six years, sometimes I feel like I have my own life over there in the U.S. and no one in my family would understand me. However, going home once again reminds me the the everlasting and eternal meaning of family. 

I haven't met my family for two years. My heart aches a little bit when I saw my dad and my mom. They have aged since the last time I met them. And my little brother has grown up so fast. In my mind, he is still the little baby who would make me laugh all the time. But now he's just as tall as me. As a college student, everyday I worry about finishing up homework, going to work, and spending time for social activities. As a result, I subconsciously spend less time for my family. Less phone calls. No more deep conversations. Everything was fading away.

The hectic life has changed my priorities in life. School and work took over my life and I kept telling myself that I will have time for my family later. But time does not wait for me. I need to try harder if I truly love someone. When I get back to Utah, I am planning to talk to my family every week and checking on them more often. I will cherish every single moment with my family. 

No Pain No Gain

Hello all:) I finally made it home after a 20-hour flight. Yup I am talking about my real home in Vietnam. But what I want to talk about is how I overcame a really rough week to achieve my ultimate goal- going home.

To be able to go home, I tried to do a lot of things beforehand. I knew that I needed to take care of everything in Provo so I won't miss assignments and fall behind in school. However, things were not easy as it seemed. Somehow I had more homework during that week and I had more assignments at work. In addition, I had three midterms that I had to take before I left. Not to mention a million other things came along the way. There were so many things to do. It got me to the point where I could explode anytime. Everything seemed to go wrong. I got angry at my friends for no reason. I lost my patience easily when I couldn't design a poster properly. I snapped at my coworkers because I thought they didn't do their jobs. Luckily, my friends knew what was going on with me and they tried to keep me positive and helped me as much as they could. When I was about to lose my temper and felt like giving up, they were always there and gave me courage. After all, I did everything I could and now I am enjoying the sunshine in Vietnam^^

When negative things happen simultaneously, people tend to feel suffocated, react aggressively and finally give up. At some points, the feeling of helplessness penetrated to my mind and I felt like: "Ok it's done, that's it!" However nothing great will be achieved without blood, sweat and tears. What I learned from last week is it's really important to have determination along with a positive attitude to to overcome adversity and hardships. Epictetus said, "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." I am learning to have a greater sense of control. I will not let external circumstances determine who I am and what I am going to do. I know that bad things can happen but I always have a choice about how to respond.

Career Fair and Networking

I went to BYU Career Fair yesterday to improve my networking skills and most importantly to look for a job. At first I was hesitate to go because I couldn't find any companies that really match my interest. However my friends said I would never know how it was going to be unless I attended. And it turned out to be a great and valuable experience for me.

Before I went, I did a little research on what companies I should approach. I came up with a list including some information about the companies, positions I look for and questions I plan to ask. When I got to the career fair, I wandered off a bit to examine the environment and headed to the targeted companies. After talking to two or three companies, I realized it was not as scary as I thought. All recruiters were trying their best to represent their companies and gave me the best accommodations. Moreover, I felt like I could apply what I learned in Mcom to make an impact and learn from others as well.

By coming to the career fair, I learned to effectively network. In addition I also got a chance to practice my interview skills by talking with different people and companies. Now I know what I have to do for the next career fair. I would definitely do more research next time so I can tailor my conversation to fit each company. Besides I also want to grow my networking skills by coming to those professional opportunities like the career fair, Although I have a little bit of introverted traits sometimes, practicing will assuredly result in positive results.

Happiness and Responsibility

Yesterday while I was driving back from Salt Lake City with my friends, one of them persuaded me to listen to his current favorite book "You Can, You Will: 8 Undeniable Qualities of a Winner" by Joel Osteen. Yup I know I am talking about self-help books again with those boring and repetitive principles to solve personal problems. But I can't stop myself from discussing what I learned from those books. So please bear with me:)

The part that I listened to is about how to find our happiness and how to be responsible for our own happiness. Osteen says we often try to please everybody and that road will eventually lead us to failures and stresses. Trying to please everyone is not a bad thing; however, by doing that we abandon our ideals and life purposes. As a result, making someone else happy does not bring happiness to our lives. Moreover, Osteen mentions there are various types of people out there and we need to choose who to stay in our lives and who should not. There will be friends who inspire us and help us to better and there will be friends who drag us down, take advantage of us and make us feel bad all the time. Therefore, it's crucial to spend our time with the right people. What I like most about the chapter is Osteen's advice to fulfill the path that God created for us. Each individual is created with a purpose. And we have the responsibility to fulfill our life purpose.

While listening to the book, I wondered what I could to do follow what God has in store for me. I have been trying to help out people with the thought that their happiness is my happiness. However at the end of the day I feel worn out and empty sometimes because some of them are not taking responsibility for their problems. The book motivates me to follow God's plan for my life by living life more abundantly. God always challenges me so I can become stronger and better. Embracing the positive perspective and ignore the negative influences will lead me to where I need to be.

10,000 hour rule

Yesterday I decided to read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell before going to bed. Years ago, when the book first came out, I actually read the book to see why it got so much attention. However, I did not find the book interesting and consequently I did not care less about finishing it. Surprisingly, the book blew my mind this time. I guess the first time I read it, I was having too many self-development books at the same time or I was not mature enough to understand the notions and principles.

One of the rules I want to mention here is the "10,000 hour rule." According to Malcolm, geniuses or prodigies are not different from us. We can all become an expert in a specific field if we know the formula to become successful. From Malcolm's observation, all successful people who reach the top of their fields possess a common trait: they all reach a total of 10,000 hour practice. Malcolm states that it's not the innate talent that makes you become an expert, it's the deliberate hours of practice. Furthermore he said successful people do not work harder than us, they work much harder then everyone.

So what's next? First I want to take the time to actually find out what my interest is. Once I know what I love to do, practice won't be a burden anymore. Second, I need to set goals and try my best to accomplish the goals. I will start with small and shot-term goals.  Right now I am thinking of improving my reading skill. Instead of spending one hour reading before bed time, today I will increase my reading time to one and a half hours, to two hours tomorrow, etc.

Work harder days by days. That's my motto!

Getting back on track

I created this blog a while ago for one of my writing classes. I forgot how much I enjoyed writing about the wars and life stories of refugees from all over the world. I forgot a lot of people out there were not as lucky as I am. Time flies and my passion was swept away.

Now MCom 320 once again reminds me of my life purpose. Well I'm not sure if I have found it yet but I'm getting there. I hope this blog is a way to help me express myself, to find what I love and to find joy in it.

Currently I am public relations student. It's really interesting to learn how to effectively influence people and drive them to action. We are all different yet similar in some ways. Identifying the similarities and triggering people to support a cause are my job. I'm excited for this semester, for MCom 320 and many more.