Looking back at a great year: 2015.

It was exactly 1 year ago that I made a very firm decision. I was inspired by a good friend of mine (really, though: November 28th in the video below) by how he had the dedication to do the same project, and I admired that. I wanted to do it too, I posted about it here on the blog, and I have basically spent the past 365 days working on it. Now, I want to share it with you.

Click to follow through to Cesar’s TED Talk – a quick lecture given by the creator of this idea and accompanying application. I’ve mentioned him several times on the blog, in relation to 1SE.

Most of the time we spend the first day of a new year looking forward. We make New Year’s Resolutions, we think about what’s coming in the following days, weeks, and months. But I’ve actually spent most of my day reflecting on what a great year 2015 has been. That’s been exceptionally easy – I haven’t had to rack my brain for hardly any memories – because I captured most of them on video.

Using the app “1 Second Everyday,” I captured 1 second (1SE) of my life, every. single. day. of the past year. It’s been eye opening to watch the 6 minute and 8 second video. While doing so, I identified a few trends…

I definitely spent the most time with my wonderful pup, Charlotte.
I ride the DC metro and hang in/around the city a lot, especially since moving to Northern Virginia in February.
I spend a lot of time behind screens – for better or for worse! That definitely changed later on in the year, intentionally.
The highlight of my year? Most likely the 2 weeks I spent in Austin for the SXSW Festivals! So much fun was jam-packed into those weeks in March, beginning on March 7th in the video.
I really enjoy live music and shows, apparently. I didn’t realize how much time I spent enjoying entertainment, live, from a stage – comedy, music, etc. One of the biggest highlights of my year was definitely crowd-surfing at Firefly!
I spent a lot of time with friends, in dark clubs. Those don’t make for the best 1SE’s but, I mean, work hard to play harder, right?
I really took heed of the push notification I would receive from the app that encouraged you to film what you’re eating!
In late October, you can definitely tell where I started to face a few health challenges and became a little more socially reclusive. This isn’t a bad a thing though! Looking back on this video, it’s things like this that show how accurate and honest I tried my best to be when filming my 1SE.

My favorite clips?

March 31st – Charlotte’s wink is just TOO adorable!
April 6th – That sunset, though!
August 7th – I was catching so much air! And I love those shoes, they were freshly shined hahaha
November 21st – Obviously, Enter Sandman.
November 28th – Obviously, energy from the one and only Josh. :)

Here’s the full video if you want to check it out:

It wasn’t easy remembering to film the 1SE every single day, but I used both the app and the iPhone’s built-in Reminders app to try and not forget. There were 2 or 3 days where I actually did forget to film something; but I didn’t want to completely lose those days. Instead, I used a more monotonous clip, something that I did on that day – just the next day or the day after. An example of this is how often I rode the Metro; that pretty much looked the same every single day.

I encourage you to try and do your own 1SE. Maybe it’s just for 1 month, or for the duration of planning a special event (instead of the commitment of doing an entire year). I think it’s great to have this to look back on and I definitely enjoyed the process. 1 last time: thank you, Cesar, for your great idea and all of the hard work that you put into this application!

December 28, 2015

Pure wanderlust.

The New Oxford American Dictionary has a definition for wanderlust that is very, very simple but even more accurate. It reads, wanderlust: “a strong desire to travel.” Whoa, did I just get attacked with a strong, strong sense of wanderlust. It’s all thanks to this wonderful blog post that I recently discovered on AbleThrive. It highlights ten accessible destinations around the globe.

Living with Purpose.

How do you live your life with purpose?

For me, living with purpose has everything to do with other people. That’s the motivation behind my most recent TEDx talk that I’d like to share with you today. Of course, though, no good HESONWHEELS blog post comes without the story behind it. So, here we go. It’s a long one – I hope you read it.

Rewind a few years to April 2013. I was a tour guide in college. One of the guests that I had on a tour was a girl named Hadley C. Thankfully, Hadley enjoyed the tour I gave her of Virginia Tech – so much so that her mom wrote me to let me know following the tour. That was definitely one of the best parts of being a college tour guide – receiving notes of gratitude from guests.

Little did either of us know this would be the beginning of something way more special than to be casually expected. Hadley, her mom, and I kept in touch somewhat over the course of the year, and she ended up choosing Virginia Tech. I was so very happy that she did – she really left an impression on me, regardless of the many, many tours I had given over the years.

Towards the end of her freshman year, Hadley’s mom actually sent me the link to a different blog post she had written, and I was practically immediately smitten. I decided to put on my creeper mask and just send her a cold-Facebook-message … no real introduction besides “Hey, I think your blog is awesome!” I remember being so grateful and happy that there are Hokies like her who just keep the Hokie spirit alive and especially the Ut Prosim spirit alive and well in Blacksburg, and I wanted to let her know – I think it’s very important to share praise with people. Even if it would come off kind of…weird haha.[pullquote] I legitimately consider Hadley one of the best, most service-minded, honest, and interesting Hokies and “1 new person everyday” people that I have ever had the opportunity to truly, legitimately befriend.[/pullquote]

We ended up getting coffee and becoming friends a few months later. Fast forward a few years to the fall of 2015, back at Hadley’s home in Richmond, a friend of hers from high school was organizing a TEDx event through her alma mater. Having become familiar with HESONWHEELS and my first TEDx talk, Hadley (unbeknownst to me!) casually mentioned that I may be a good candidate to speak at their event.

How grateful am I for that recommendation!

Hadley’s friend, Caroline S. reached out to me and invited me to be a speaker at their event, TEDxYouth@RVA. For those outside the Commonwealth, RVA stands for Richmond, Virginia. I had been very involved the year prior, when I lived in Fredericksburg, at my former middle school’s innaguaral TEDx event, TEDxDrewMiddleSchool, so I was very familiar with with the TEDxYouthDay movement. Little did I know that what they were doing with this particular event, though, was even more amazing and inspiring.

Through their schools, the students who put on TEDxYouth@RVA had an amazing opportunity to use their entire class time to collaborate with students from other schools to put on this event. They took everything very seriously and it culminated in one of the best TEDx events I’ve ever seen live. I also want to give a special shout-out to Caroline S., for being my speaker point-of-contact for the event and doing such a great job of managing me! I was a little all over the place as we prepared for the event, and Caroline was so very patient and made my life so incredibly easy. There’s nothing more that a speaker can ask for!

You can check out the Twitter feed for TEDxYouth@RVA here.

Now that you have that part of the story, you might be asking yourself – why the long buildup to sharing the talk? Well, because, the way I look at it – had I never befriended Hadley, I likely wouldn’t have had the opportunity to work with these folks in Richmond. Let me break it down for you.

Back in April 2013 we began the campus tour, the guests were somewhat arbitrarily divided up. Hadley had taken other tours of VT, but this was finally the time that she would be on my tour. The tour, I guess, was a good one that day and therefore her Mom decided to reach out afterward. [pullquote]That coincidence, that beautiful web of connection, that opportunity that arose from her mom simply e-mailing me and me simply messaging her – that is from where I derive my purpose in life.[/pullquote]Had her mom not reached out, Hadley potentially would have still chosen VT, but I would never have felt compelled to reach out to her directly. Had I not reached out to her, and we decided to get together for coffee, maybe I wouldn’t have been in her thoughts when she suggested me as a speaker to Caroline. Not to mention – had I never had the opportunity to give that TEDx talk back in 2012 at VT, none of this would have ever happened! Do you see how many things had to fall into place for this to end up happening?

Now that you have the background to the story of how I was lucky enough to become a part of this TEDxYouth@RVA event, I’d love to share the talk with you here.

Now that you’ve given me another 9 minutes of your life – first, I want to say thank you for watching. Second, I want to share with you a few take-aways that are very important to me, and the main messages from the talk.

First, the main message is obviously all about connecting with other people. I tried to do that through my talk, and I do feel like I was successful. I was lucky enough to kick-off the event, and therefore hopefully inspired the audience to connect with others throughout the breaks in the event.

“As I got older and I began to own my disability, I realized that engaging with other people was the most important thing I could possibly do.” | This. is. life.

“When I meet people, I try to take nuggets from what they share with me about their lives and compact them into a narrative.” | This is literally how I do my best to remember the names, stories, and interesting facts about the many people that I meet. Now you know the secret. :)

I look at the world as a human library. What if you treated your daily interactions as if you were in a library, looking for a new, interesting book to engage with? Don’t you think it would be so much more interesting? I know that my own life is much more rewarding for approaching my everyday in this way.

“That’s the purpose of the ‘human library.’ Is being as engaged and as committed to seeing other people for who they are. A prosperous future for all of us will depend on authentic, legitimate human connection.”

Finally you can also view a playlist of the other speakers from the day here!

December 1, 2015

3 years later.

Can’t believe it’s been three whole years since this amazing day. One of the coolest experiences, hands down, in my life. Thought I’d share some never-before-seen photos from the hike to commemorate the day.

Some things should never change.

When you’re in your 20’s, the word “tradition” probably doesn’t mean as it might later in life, but I’m grateful to be surrounded by the very definition of tradition. It just happens to involve Virginia Tech football, too. Just last month, I was reading my friend Hadley C.’s blog, and she shared a fantastic quote that she felt defined the word “tradition.” I completely agreed with her. She wrote that, “tradition is a physical representation for being apart of something bigger than yourself.” This is a blog post, too, about tradition.

This past weekend I had the chance to do something I didn’t think I would be able to do until next season – head down to Blacksburg to see the Hokies play UNC! Coach Frank Beamer just announced his retirement before the bye week, making this contest the last home game of his career. One of my very best friends, Caroline G., who lives in South Carolina while she works on her graduate degree, and I had planned to meet up for a game in Blacksburg earlier this season, but unfortunately I couldn’t make that trip. Once she said she was available to “meet in the middle,” so to speak, for this trip I was essentially, immediately, on the road.

Goofing off with the wonderful Caroline during halftime of the football game! Unfortunately it was a loss for the Hokies but it was a win for me getting to catch up with this wonderful woman!

Turns out – not only was this going to be a trip where I got to reunite with Caroline but I’d get to reunite with some old friends, too!

During my freshman year of college, I lived in suite-style housing. The suite across from my mine was comprised of six extraordinary girls, many of whom I remain very, very close with this to this day, even 6 years later. One of those girls, Cathleen C., changed my life when she first invited me to a tailgate during our freshman year, with her mom, dad, and some of their college friends. The four of them – Carmen & Alan (Mr. and Mrs. C.!) and Kathy & Sam – all met during their time at VT, and ended up getting married (HOW ADORABLE, AMRITE?!). Over the years, many of their kids received a Virginia Tech education, and obviously Cathleen was no different!

7630_272690760713_7786760_n — Shannon H., myself, Cathleen, and Ari W. travelled to Georgia during our undergraduate days to see the Hokies play in the Georgia Dome! We obviously take Hokie football pretty seriously.

That tradition of tailgating together, that they shared with us, has continued over the years, and I am so very grateful for that. Many of our friends and significant others have joined in on the tradition since we’ve been students, too.

463986_10151749632270714_921103713_o — Many of the folks mentioned here are some of our dearest friends from undergrad. I think this photo was taken in 2012, just before we graduated.

I’ve always been so incredibly appreciative of them for opening their condo to us and always making sure we are well-fed before or after Hokie football games.

156490_10151749625850714_1899205646_n — The only picture I could find of these four incredible Hokies – Sam, Alan, Carmen, and Kathy from left to right!

Spending time with them and catching up this past weekend is, undoubtedly, a highlight of my entire month. I always try to make sure that no matter what happens in life and how things change that I stay grounded and connected with people that I love. This situation is a good example of that, and I’m going to try my best to keep it up.

12243363_10207957824366895_8913022295349151905_n — Love you BM, and everything that you’ve shared in this great tradition with me and us!

November 19, 2015

Elizabeth, 4-H, and TEDx.

I knew I would want to blog about this absolutely immediately. I just knew it.

It’s a Thursday night, and I’m enjoying a livestream of TEDxVirginiaTech with a mug of hot chocolate. (I almost never blog about things immediately – I let my ideas marinate. Not this time. That’s how serious this is). If you’re not familiar with TED or the TEDx brand – you definitely aren’t a regular reader of HESONWHEELS. But here’s some information on that so you know why Elizabeth was on this stage, sharing this great ideas with an audience that I had planned to be a part of.

Tonight was TEDxVirginiaTech’s fourth year. To learn more about this year’s speakers, click here.

If you don’t want to read this whole post (and you very well should), I’ll tell you that it’s led by this idea that she shared during her talk. I completely, whole-heartedly agree with Elizabeth when she said: consider how you can make service your own in your life and your everyday decisions.

Virginia and Veteran Homelessness.

I just found this piece online and wanted to share it here, too. It seemed particularly appropriate seeing as Veteran’s Day was just 2 days ago:

“Virginia Just Became the First State in the US to End Veteran Homelessness”

Working in D.C., I pass by many homeless people on the daily. It forces me to think about what I’m grateful for more often than not. For example, in the short walk from the Metro elevator to my building, and it’s cold outside – am I really that cold, or is that man who slept underneath the bridge even colder than I am? What am I really going to open my mouth to complain about, you know?

This season, I’ve confronted my own assumptions about homelessness through volunteerism. Carpenter’s Shelter is a nearby shelter that serves over 1,000 homeless and formerly homeless children and adults each year. I’ve volunteered there a few times over the course of the past few months and, frankly, it hasn’t been as fulfilling as I expected.

Through my alma mater’s alumni group, we work together to prepare lunch for the residents of the shelter. But the actual interaction with the residents is limited. We hang out in the kitchen, prepare the food, serve it, and clean up. Yes, you feel like you’re doing a service for these people, but we don’t really get the opportunity to interact with them too much.

When I found myself thinking this I said – well, why do I need someone else to give me that opportunity? But the more I thought about it – I realized that it didn’t seem like they were too interested in any such interaction, anyways. Sure, I’m dying to know their story and connect with them, but do they want to connect with me? And who would I be to force that unto them? This is the same challenge I encounter when interacting with homeless people on the street. What level of interaction are they even interested in? What kind of help are they interested in when they ask for it?

Anyways, I’ve kind of gotten a bit off-topic here – the focus of this blog was supposed to be on the work that Virginia has done as a Commonwealth to eradicate veteran homelessness – I’m very impressed by that, especially because I’m familiar with the numbers regarding Virginia having such a large homeless veteran population.

November 11, 2015

Veteran’s Day.

I wanted to take a moment to write about the fact that today is Veteran’s Day here in the states.

Veteran’s Day is always observed on November 11th – one of few U.S. holidays to be observed on such a particular date as opposed to the “the third Thursday” or the “second Tuesday” of a month. The reason for this is because fighting from the first World War is known to have ceased on November 11th – at the eleventh hour – of 1918. I’m not trying to take us back to history class here, but here is a fantastic link that features a lot of history about the day from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

Modern day, the day has definitely continued to be a celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love for our great country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. I know and love many veterans of our great United States military, and wanted to use this as an opportunity to stop and realize Veteran’s Day more than a day that I don’t have to go to work because it’s a federal holiday, but more as an opportunity to educate others on the meaning behind it and why we observe it.

Thank you to all veteran’s for your service – for so directly putting your life on the line so that I can continue to live the safe, prosperous life I live here on our American soil. :)

Thank you.