My Life - A Work in Progress
(Dragonette - Pick Up The Phone)

It's been 10 years since I've graduated from university. Can’t help but look back at how awesome this decade has been for me. The two biggest changes in my life? – my career and my wife. I was pretty consumed in university of finding a) my calling; and b) my partner in crime.

Finding your calling is really a smaller subset of figuring out who you are. I used to think the sooner you found yourself, the quicker you'd be able to enjoy your life. So much of defining myself after university was based on figuring out what it was I was good at and how I would make that my career. I spent my entire post secondary education trying to live up to my parents dreams instead of figuring out my own. It wasn't easy but the moment I let go of the notion that I had to follow someone else’s footsteps, I quickly paved my own path. I went back to school, did a post grad in database management and here I am today with a successful career in software and one that even my parents are proud of. Parents want you to succeed and sometimes they think the only way for you to do so is to follow the path they've laid out for you. Well, I’m telling you that you can pave your own path and most of the time this is in line with what your parents want for you. If it isn't, at least you did it on your own terms.

Similarly finding your partner in crime is also reaffirming who you are. If you can find someone who you enjoy spending your time with, who can understand your worries and fears, who can share the things in life you find important, and can share in your dreams -- then you’ve got a great grasp of what are the components of your life that make you happy. That’s you in a nutshell. And all the painful iterations of loving and losing seem all worth it in the end.

It really has been an incredible decade for me.

I’m waiting for someone to interrupt me here and say, “Khiem, I’m happy for you and I’mma let you finish but my decade was the greatest decade of all time. OF ALL TIME!” Anyone?...anyone?...no…I didn’t think so.