TURNING AMBITION INTO IGNITION: How Adversity Drives Me

“Sometimes you need to drown a little to appreciate breathing.”

This video is for a song I recorded towards the end of my first year in San Jose in 2013 to a Big KRIT instrumental (Boobie Miles).

I titled this song “The Reservoir” as reminder that everything we experience in life is stored, whether or not we remember it.

There are some who tap into this Reservoir and let it out in productive ways. While there are others who simply choose to suppress it.

August 2013, I moved away from my longtime home in Southern California to the Bay Area and see what this Silicon Valley was all about. The advisor for one of the student organizations I was a part of told me about the things happening at the startup world of Silicon Valley.

I saw this world of opportunity, innovation, collaboration. So many people trying to make their own way and most importantly, they hustled to achieve their vision.

This was a world I could see myself being a part of. This was a mentality I needed to surround myself with if I expected to get shit done.

Due to a complicated housing situation upon arriving in San Jose, I had to sleep in my car my first couple of weeks.

I took showers at the gym, the sun was my alarm clock, I used coffee shop wifi to order my textbooks.

The world won’t give a fuck whether I succeed or fail, so I chose to adapt. I was getting adjusted to the temporary homeless life. I knew this wasn’t forever.

I received news that same weekend that my grandmother passed away.

Welcome to San Jose.

I was aware of the fact that I was 300 miles away from Southern California, but it wasn’t until that moment when it finally hit me that I was no longer home.

I was a strange man in a strange land. 
I knew no one out here.

I suppose this was San Jose’s way of testing me. I intended to do big things in this area, so what would that say about me if I let myself get knocked down by something like this my first week out?

Since then, I have gone through many experiences that helped shift the path I walk. I met so many amazing and inspiring people who continue to motivate me to pursue my passions.

Now I am the first in my family with my Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, working a job I enjoy at a company in the front lines of technology and innovation, and I’m hustling harder than ever in my music and my passions.

The Bay Area, in it’s own right, has become as much home to me as Southern California. However, I feel like everything I do out here in this strange land wouldn’t be possible without the hometown that raised me.

I am humble enough to know that I have a long way to go, but I am confident enough to know that I have things and thoughts worth sharing to the world.

All of our experience holds value in some form. It’s always good to map out your journey as a reminder of where you were. Turn that ambition into ignition.

I hope you enjoyed this story. I’d appreciate it if you clicked on that little heart there so others can know that whatever situation they’re in can change the next day. Don’t let the adversity diminish you, let it motivate you.