At 7 a.m. the alarm clock rings softly, yet enough to call me from the bed. Light seeps in through the blinds on the window and residual daylight enters through the bedroom door. The bed sheets sift as I sit up in bed and rub my face. As my feet search for my slippers on the ground, my feet scrape the sandpaper carpet in Kennedy Apartments. Feet now in slippers, I emerge from the bedroom to start my morning routine of brushing teeth, drinking water, and meditating. 

 

    Mornings have been my time since my senior year of high school inspired by my English teacher, Mr. Vinson. Vinson always responded to emails extremely fast except after 9:00 p.m. That was because he woke up at 5 a.m. every day, where he would proceed to finish all his errands, house chores, grading, gardening, responding to emails, and anything else he needed to complete. Just about every school morning I would walk into his classroom and be greeted by an obnoxiously excited “Good morning, JV!” 

 

    JV was my nickname. Vinson found it hilarious they were my initials because in my junior year, I was demoted from varsity soccer to junior varsity. The fact that my initials were JV were too good for Vinson to hold back from. Vinson occasionally made nicknames for his students. Although it was never because he could not pronounce someone’s name or was too lazy to learn it. In fact, he spends hours each school year learning the names of every human that walks through his door and how to pronounce it correctly. When they next enter his room, he greets them with a good morning and their name. Through this, I learned to value using names. It is the one thing that a person will always carry with them; it is an important identifier of who they are. I learned many things from Vinson.

 

    After meditation, I cook myself a simple breakfast. Some sort of bread and fruit. My girlfriend got me to enjoy eating avocados and various nuts. I used to despise nuts. Especially cashews. That’s mostly because of one Boy Scout backpacking trip after eighth grade before high school. We did a seven-day 50-mile trip through the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. My first long hiking trip. I finally put all my skills to use. But I made one bad decision that has affected me ever since. Every day for lunch, I ate nothing but trail mix. The dry kind with salty raisins, M&Ms, almonds, and cashews. The sweets disappeared within the first few days which left me with only the salty dry nuts. Every time since I am triggered at the mere sight of nuts. Luckily, my girlfriend introduced me to fresh nuts and nuts I had never eaten before, like delicious macadamia nuts. Now it is strange for me to eat breakfast without nuts. 

 

    After breakfast, I sit down on my couch and check emails. My three on-campus jobs keep my inbox from reaching zero every morning. One type of email is Psych 101 students asking questions about their requirement to participate in Professor’s studies. Another is scheduling emails for my job in the Center for Global Engagement. This one is particularly enjoyable because we take international students out to experience fun activities in Spokane. In the process, I get to make new friends around the world and learn some new languages. The most interesting part is learning what caused culture shock for international students. They always comment on how many waivers they have to sign. 

 

    My last job takes up more time than attending school and doing homework. I work as an Assistant Resident Director in Housing and Residence Life. I am responsible for 12 Resident Assistants and the roughly 500 residents they oversee. I have on average ten meetings every week, with more work to do at home. 

 

    Some days feel more challenging than others, especially during Spokane’s winters. However, my life goals motivate me to push on. In the future, I hope to take my undergraduate work in Cultural Psychology and my graduate work in Communication and Leadership studies to become a Professor in China studying how different cultures handle different areas of leadership. I hope to be involved in coaching individuals, organizations, and even governments in leadership development, with the ultimate goal of creating more global leaders on this planet, so that in the future humans can unite together. Maybe I am a little ambitious, but watch me.