Free Yourself from Fear

So as some of you may know I teach at FIT in the AMC department part-time and it has been a wonderful semester being there.

I have met a lot of interesting students of mine this past semester that really opened my eyes and seeing what a difficult time period it is for them due to our environment and also going to college in New York City which is filled with so much energy and distractions. Since I never got to live in the city and experience it was very hard for me to put myself in their shoes but I could see it in their eyes at times of my lecture that I saw in myself when I was in their shoes.

Since about half of them come from different parts of the country, I was lucky to see them grow in 12 weeks not by the way they dressed but the way they interacted with me and their classmates.

I tried my best to educate them in class and prepare them for the real world based on my experiences and I am not sure if it is tougher in 2008 or when I was getting out of college in 2001. I remember having an interview on September 11, 2001 and waking up to get ready and experiencing one of the most tragic days I have seen in my entire life.

So I know how it felt after that day and it was a tough time period for friends of mine trying to start their career.

So every semester I try to fit my lecture with a guest and this year I chose my dear friend Vincent Chiu who I met at Rutgers College freshman year on the 4th floor of Campbell Apartments. We lost touch after freshman year and I ran into him again in the lower east side after probably 3-4 years and recently we touched base with the thanks of Facebook, which majority of my students in my class can't stop looking at when I am teaching!

Anyways, I got to catch up with Vin recently and realized how much changed since our last encounter. He seemed much more grounded than I remember him but he told me he was still traveling which was one of his favorite things to do.

Right after college, he earned his Computer Science degree and got a job offer for a tech company. He decided to quit on the first day. He realized that this is not what he wanted to do and started to soul search and he said it wasn't easy for a certain time period, but after reading books, meeting different people along the way through his travels, he recognized that he wanted to have control of his life verse being controlled by someone else. So he started his own business which is own website that sells high end furniture. He mentioned on his free time he does these seminars around the metropolitan area to inspire people with his experiences and readings.

So I thought he a perfect speaker for my class and my students were actually inspired by him. It was a thought provoking lecture and I wanted to share this with all of you, because we all need sometime for ourselves to kind of make sure we are on the right path.

FREE YOURSELF FROM FEAR

Life is short some say, but it's really how you make of it. Vin, I know you're in Mumbai with your princess.

Thanks for coming in and speaking to my class.



Here's one of his favorite videos that keeps him going.