About Me — Aashwin Vats

In the world of cryptocurrencies, I continue to invest in people

Two Years of Hiding our Smiles Behind a Mask — Photo of Author on a Train to New York City

Background

Born in Udaipur, a small town in India, I moved around more than any kid could imagine in their childhood. My habit of moving every three to four years as an adult stems from those years. It was a lot of fun learning from different kinds of teachers, making many new friends, and the entire schooling experience for that matter. Some schools focused more on sports, and so I became good at a few of them. Some were more focused on other extracurriculars, and hence I got to explore various activities. I learned sewing and glass painting from activity classes I took in my second grade. Furthermore, it made me a person who loves to continuously learn new skills. It was also incredibly stressful to move to a new environment and start from scratch, make a tribe at a new place or become a member of one. But here’s where I would like to think I got lucky. I met many amazing people at all of the schools, and some of them I am still in touch with today, thanks to social media. They made it all worth it.

Between then and now, as I grew up and moved to the driver’s seat, I am grateful for all the stops I made on this journey called life.

Professionally, I worked on becoming an engineer and made my 8yr old self proud. Yes, I knew very early on what I wanted to become(after my dreams of becoming a pilot or an astronaut were crushed, story for another time). It took me two degrees to realize what kind of engineer I wanted to become. But I gave in to my creative side and became a software developer.

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Personally, I am a work in progress and intend to be that way for the remainder of my life. I am fortunate to have a very loving and supportive family. Because of the values I grew up with, my life is centered around empathy, compassion, and ambition (in that order). I try to maintain a good balance between all three. There is also a huge support system in place for me. I’ve collected a whole village of friends from different phases of my life over the years. My friendships are my most cherished and prized possession.

My Interests

I did continue to explore new things after school. While in college, I was a part of the organizing committee for almost all technical events. It was exhilarating, my personality grew in ways I didn’t know it could. In graduate school, I took various physical activity courses like badminton, bowling, swimming, cardio kickboxing, Zumba, weight training. It was a transformational experience.

Some Of My More Sketchable Interests

I also keep myself involved in mini personal projects from time to time. Currently, I’ve taken up a yoga challenge of doing 108 sun salutations(each consisting of 12 different poses) for 30days. It is crazy! But I’m excited to share more about that experience in my later posts. That reminds me, I’ve also taken up writing as a new hobby this year. I intend to start small and convert a couple of drafts to published stories by the end of this year.

(L to R) Row 1: Smith Rock State Park, OR; Crater Lake National Park, OR; Ensign Peak Salt Late City, UT; Row 2: San Juan Islands, WA; Sunrise at the Mary’s Peak, OR; John Day Fossil Beds, OR (Top); Depoe Bay, OR (Bottom)

(L to R) Multnomah Falls, OR; Point Mountain 10-mile hike, NJ; Corvallis Chip Ross Park hike, OR; Sunrise at the Sandy Hook Beach, NJ; US Capitol, Washington D.C.; Sunset at Yachats, OR; The Streets of New York City, NY;

Life Highlights :: Life Lessons

• Leaving home at the age of 16 :: Being independent is the biggest gift you can give yourself.
• Switching major from Electronics to Computer Science :: You can do anything, at any time. It’s never too late.
• Moving to a new country :: Be patient with yourself and others. Everybody is on their own journey. Don’t be quick to judge others based on how you expected them to react while you were on yours.
• The job search phase :: Do the best you can and trust the timing of your life.
• Realizing the real wealth :: There is nothing more valuable than the love of the family you were born into and the family you make for yourself. They are our real-life autosave checkpoints, like in the video games? For those phases in life where you take a leap of faith and fall, your friends and family help you revive yourself.
• Investing in self :: Explore as much as you can, and keep discovering yourself. Be curious. If you don’t try new things, you’ll never know if you like doing them.
• Building relationships :: Know your worth, and set healthy boundaries for yourself. Realize that in the long term, the people who stuck with you were the ones who needed the least amount of maintenance. It is supposed to be that easy.

Honestly, there’s so much to explore and learn in this world, and life is just too short. It is essential to accept that we’ll never be able to do everything. So whatever we do get to experience, we must embrace it with all our heart! Living in the present, with peace and gratitude — has been the most valuable lesson I’ve learned so far.

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