Baby steps

July 8, 2019 ~ Jeff A. Wang ~ Leave a comment

Baby steps

It’s all about baby steps

I still remember these words from

my grade 8-9 basketball coach

1% better every day

Whether that be personal life, academics, career, health, or basketball

1% better every day

Don’t worry about being a millionaire overnight

Celebrities aren’t made by one movie (they usually did several crappy movies before the star in the movie that “makes” their career)

Rome wasn’t built in one day

It’s not a lot, but baby steps eventually turn into strides, and before you even realize it, you will be running fast towards your goals

Different circumstances

May 14, 2019 ~ Jeff A. Wang ~ Leave a comment

Today I went to Milton Herschel School and man this school is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen

It must be over 4 times as big as Vilanova’s 250 acre campus

Children lived in mansions which houses up to 14 kids

The school where they took classes looked more like a tiny college

And there was just so much free land and greenery

But the students at MHS all come from underprivileged communities

Which is good and bad

Good because it allows kids without the right circumstances to flourish through support and education

Bad because some times the circumstances of a child isn’t where they go to school or how much money you throw at them

The graduating classes of MHS often have huge disparity in terms of where the children end up

My friend who goes to Villanova has friends at Princeton, UPenn, Georgetown and other esteemed universities

But out of his 200 graduating class, he notes several who have dropped out of college after one or few semesters and maybe 15 have ended up starting families already before they’ve turned 20, which also forces them to leave school

It’s an interesting case study of whether or not it’s possible to “help” people through institutions like MHS

How can we truly help people besides simply financially and educationally? I think personal life and EQ skills are just as important to teach besides a good education and scholarships for school

Not everyone is fit for school

But everyone is fit for life. And I think life skills is something we need to better teach future generations

A reminder

November 22, 2018November 22, 2018 ~ Jeff A. Wang ~ Leave a comment

I’m here

I’m existing

Through life you will forget who you are

You will create yourself many times

And then recreate yourself twice as many times

You’ll say you’ve forgotten who you used to be, but you know that’s a lie. You know deep down that you’ve been carrying that baggage since it arrived.

My insecurities do not define me. They shape who I am. They allow me to flourish in a world of hurt–a world where everyone is different yet everyone is trying to prove that their way of different is better than your way of different.

Can someone carry me out of this abyss?

I look up and no one is there. Except further up, I see a mirror and remember that I must pull myself out of this well that I willingly dropped into.

Do not forsake my past, and do not forsake who I am in the present, and most importantly, I will not forsake who I may become in the future.

A reminder to be thankful of your life comes at least once a year in Holiday form. But gratitude is not something that should be shown once a year. Instead, I need to be grateful for this existence. For my friends. For my family. For myself. For this Earth. For this world.

Be Grateful for love. For hurt, for sorrow, for joy, for success, for failure. Be grateful for the tightrope of life because you know that there is also a safety net down below. And if there isn’t, please build one.

This is a reminder.

A reminder that the voice inside your head reading this means you exist.

It means you have the ability to be grateful for this existence. To continue walking that tightrope. To continue getting rejected by love and to relish instead in friendship, in family. To pull yourself out of that well. To being happy, to being accepted, to being.

Mystique of NYC

November 18, 2018 ~ Jeff A. Wang ~ Leave a comment

Every time I go to New York there is a certain mystique to it. My first Broadway show made me believe that magic is truly real. When I walked through Central Park I saw all these beautiful nuances—how many tourists have walked this path, how many relationships are built on these strolls, how many dogs pass through Central Park? I want to live in a beautiful Brownstone house. I can feel the energy of the people around me as I walk through Korea Town, China Town, through Washington Square Park, through Times Square. It’s different. The thing about New York is you see so much diversity—and you can never tell if someone is a tourist or real New Yorker just by looking at them. I am a tourist. I am a tourist of the world. I see beautiful cities and I immediately fall deep in love with the concept of the people, of the streets, of the homes, of the world that I could potentially live in if I moved to that city. Social media is weird for me because some days I feel like I am posting too often, and some days I feel like I don’t post often enough. I guess that means in the end I am posting just the right amount. I’m looking for magic and I think I found it in New York. (Watch out for a magic post next). For now, enjoy this fake #candid photo. #aesthetics

No one sees you

February 27, 2018June 14, 2018 ~ Jeff A. Wang ~ Leave a comment

If no one sees you

Then you have the advantage of being overlooked

People who expect less from you

People mistakingly believe you do not have the resources to succeed

People think you are weak

Prove them wrong

Work hard

Work smart

Work with intent

If no one sees you, then give them a reason to

A light is only shown after it is surrounded by darkness. Now is your chance to shine.

Time for you to prove them wrong

Good Luck.

“Sometimes it’s the people who no one imagined anything of who do things that no one could imagine”

Grateful Day 58: I am grateful for “Quora”, a social media platform based on questions and answers. I use it consistently to practice my writing and share my opinions

Magic Day 27: Gaaaah. I missed another day… I know, I know, I suck…

Tomorrow is the last day and I’ll end this month strong!

This is yours

February 25, 2018June 14, 2018 ~ Jeff A. Wang ~ Leave a comment

Some experiences are meant to be for you only.

Those moments of deep thought and solitude? A brisk walk around a beautiful country? That beautiful sunrise at the top of the hill you climbed?

Maybe that moment is meant just for you. Maybe the stars aligned perfectly at that moment so only you could experience that beauty and serenity of the sun slowly changing colors across the landscape—so far yet you feel like you can grasp that beauty right in front of you. Maybe it’s best to put your phone away and instead of taking a picture to share with others, that you keep this moment just for yourself, like a beautiful secret.

And maybe you don’t have someone there to confirm this reality with you, but maybe what you experienced was a beauty that is outside of reality in the first place. These moments are the best because they will forever and solely be yours.

This memory… This is yours, yours alone. And it is beautiful.

Let your demons out

January 30, 2018June 14, 2018 ~ Jeff A. Wang ~ 1 Comment

stare at a wall in silence

meditate

be still

let all your demons come out

let your thoughts escape you and run circles

It’s okay

you may get scared

you may feel taunted and attacked

allow it to happen

allow yourself to freely think about the bad–and the good

let your demons out so they can no longer haunt you from the inside

you deserve better than to carry such toxicity around

and once you find peace in your stillness

Create Angels

Good Luck.

Grateful Day 30: I am grateful for being able to watch some quality Netflix shows with my roommates

(Still voting on what month challenge I should do for February. Click here to vote. 1) do magic every day for strangers or 2) jog every day)

Chasing the Horizon

December 28, 2017June 14, 2018 ~ Jeff A. Wang ~ 3 Comments

I felt like writing a poem today. Now, I am by no means a poet, but I do enjoy reading poetry, watching spoken poetry, and yes, occasionally writing it. This poem is about focusing on the progress and the process (#Trust the Process). Sometimes we dwell too much on a certain goal, that we forget how far we’ve gone. The end goal is not the most important thing; it’s good to reflect on our progress. Enjoy!

Chasing the Horizon

you are a sailor

look across the ocean

what do you see?

a beautiful horizon… the sun is at its apex, the ocean glows from the rays

the horizon’s beauty is unparalleled and so…you decide to chase it

you prepare your things: food, clothes, and a perfect book to kill time

you set sail to chase the horizon

slowly…

hours turn into days, days turn into weeks, weeks into months, then years have passed

yet you are nowhere near your goal… nowhere near the end…the horizon, still only in the distance, still only a dream

surrounded by nothing but the ocean

now you are stuck, stranded, in no-man’s land, or no-man’s ocean…

distraught and struck with failure that the horizon escapes your grasps.

you wish that someone had told you that no matter how hard you try, you will never reach that goal, that it’s impossible to catch the horizon, and that those sailors who chase it are those who end up alone, distraught like you are right now

the sun sets and you decide to look back to where you started

looked back to where you set off on this journey

finally, you looked back…

……..

they say one person can create a ripple and change the world

but yet you somehow created thousands of ripples and failed to see it

you failed to see the distances traveled, and the memories you fabricated while on this journey

all the progress you’ve made, and all the ripples you created

you failed to see because you only saw the horizon

the horizon may be beautiful….but you can’t chase it

instead, look back and see how far you’ve gone in life

look at the progress