Finished

I finally finished and defended my thesis and submitted it to the University. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Well not the defense, the entire process. Seems somewhat silly, but I really struggled with finishing it. The closer I got to the end the more overwhelming it seemed. And I felt like I had hit a wall way back in December. I was burnt out. Tired mentally and emotionally from everything that I went through in the past two years. I made everything harder on myself by procrastinating when I didn't know how to move to the next step. And it wasn't really the writing as much as the atmosphere that I didn't like anymore.

I can look back on everything and learn something from it now. I know what kind of people I want to work for in the future. I know the kind of person I want to strive to be if I'm ever in a situation that calls for leadership of a group of people. And I know this because I mostly learned what not to do.

"Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."

Bandi Chastain is a professional American soccer player best known for her game-winning penalty against China in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup final -- and her celebration afterward (see below). I watched this game--it was an amazing moment for the US women's soccer team. She got a lot of crap for this picture (well it made her famous) but I couldn't think of a better picture to describe how happy I am to actually be finished--and to be moving on to something new and exciting and working for people who appreciate hard work.

Don't worry, I won't run around without a shirt on to celebrate. But you should know, I'm also just as ripped as she is. Haaa. Right. Scary.