The past few days, my husband and I—as Amazon sellers—have been dealing with a customer beyond unreasonable. The several-question-marks-per-sentence, hate-you-even-though-you're-handling-everything-correctly-and-politely type. You probably know the kind!

When I was asked about where I saw myself in 5, 10 years time, a younger me would diligently answer ‘at university obviously!’ Higher education seemed like the only obvious course of action for a ‘gifted’ child such as myself. I always enjoyed academic success and therefore, to those around me, and even to myself, this could be the only sensible answer. However as I aged, and the future prospect of university suddenly changed into the present, preparing for university, reality set in. University was no longer some vague goal to waive away any actual foresight, decisions were to be made. What did I actually want to study? Where did I want to study? How much was this all going to cost? I had, and still have no idea what the answers to those questions are, and as my peers easily sailed through them it became increasingly obvious that my lifelong path was about to be derailed. I had some serious self evaluating to do. First, was the ‘where’ problem. I come from an island, there are no universities here so I must move away from my home wherever I was to go on the mainland. Second, was the ‘what’ problem. What was I actually going to study? It was no issue finding things I’d be good at, but finding things I’d enjoy? I was a teenager, I enjoyed sleeping more than any of my studies, I’d never taken a really serious interest in any subject and now I had to decide one to dedicate the next three to four years of my life to, at least? And finally, came the ‘how’ problem. How was I going to afford it? University is a massive financial burden to take on, I’d have to take out loans, and I don’t have a great relationship with my parents so I wouldn’t be able to rely on them for any support. So why should I take a financial gamble on a course I’m not sure I’m interested in, while having to live in a city I’ve never been too?

“Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.” Alan Turing

There's a lot of mixed emotions that start off this piece. To give you a little background, I am currently a freelancer in Chicago. My gigs are random and scattered so most of my time is spent at home managing my blog, Way of Vida, creating content, and figuring out how to make a full time income online. I live with my dad and sister.

An important part of maturing and becoming a fully functional adult is to keep your expectations in check and to manage them as to not conflict with what the reality of the situation is. Keeping your expectations in check is difficult to do but it is necessary in order to not let an oversized ego, or arrogance, or selfishness keep you from becoming the person you should be. One has to always be prepared for reality to not line up with our initial expectations. You can never really be fully certain of how things in life are going to shape up to be. A true sign of maturity is wishing for the best but understanding that you could be in for disappointment and setbacks even when you think that everything can turn out fine.

I can’t remember when I decided I was a bad artist but I know it was before high school. Sitting in ASB at 17, painting footballs with the players' names on them, I loudly proclaimed that I was not a good artist and I never had been. I recently realized that was a lie.

May we create a world of visionaries. A creative vision of the world. Full of the next Miguel Cervantes. Except this time it's you taking center stage of your own story.

Who am I? Take away your friends and family and take away the opinion of others and what they want you to be. Who are you and what will you be?

I have this great app on my phone, it’s called “Motivation Quotes.” And, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Twice a day, for me at 9 AM, and then at 9 AM, I get a short motivational quote or saying. I get one as I’m getting ready for the day, and as I’m winding down for the night. If I’m being totally honest, a lot of the times, I’m so caught up in making sure that I’m up and ready in time for work in the morning, or in the evening, I’m usually still cramming in schoolwork at school, that I tap the notification or swipe it to make it go away before even reading it. It’s a bad habit, as reading these quotes takes literally just seconds of my time.