Dedicated to You

So this past week, I finally got the chance to reunite with one of my really good friends who I was lucky enough to meet during my freshman year of high school. She is one of the most down-to-earth and genuine people I know and has taught me the importance of staying grounded and anchored so I don't get caught up in the wave of what everyone else is doing. It's been about 8 months or so since I have seen her but as always, it's as if no time had passed. We got through the typical "What have you been up to? What classes are you taking this semester? How was your summer?" questions and after a while, the conversation sort-of melted and paved its way into talking about the Eco Fashion Expo. I would say that my mind subconsciously likes to bring in the topic of the #efe whenever I have a conversation with anyone. It's very likely that if the lady at McDonald's asks me: "What sauce would you like with your fries?",  my dumb ass would be like "Sweet and Sour—just like how I feel about the eco-fashion expo experience,  soooo last year, a couple friends and I…". That’s a pretty accurate representation of how all conversations with me sound like. Honestly, I would get annoyed at me too. But anyway, I told my friend all about the show and how it was basically the baby of the entire #efe team. And by "baby", I actually mean that yes, she was high maintenance and unpredictable but we would say that successfully running our first show is equivalent to a baby's first words. And if those first words included somewhere along the lines of "we've all been constantly sleep-deprived while pouring our blood, sweat, and tears, yet it was simultaneously a 5 stars yelp rating, 200% rewarding and life-fulfilling experience", then yes, calling the show our "baby" is spot on. Yet in the middle of all my rant about how one of my goals is to ultimately build this brand and company, she said these words that honestly, I didn't even think I needed to hear until I actually heard it. Then, of course, being the big emotional btch that I am, I instantly started tearing up.  I don’t think that I've ever had someone say those words to me before and perhaps my parents said it once or so but you already know the nature of Asian parents. So upon hearing those words, I was completely taken back by how five simple words can mean so much to a person especially when they're at a state of feeling overwhelmed and unrecognized for all passion and effort that a whole #efe team poured into a project. So this post is dedicated for you, in case no one has told you recently. It doesn't matter where you are right now in terms of life goals, career goals or even personal goals because everyone is running their own race. Whether you are killing it at school, at work, at life or just the fact that you woke up before noon today,I'm proud of you.