Everything is going to be OK

I've been thinking a lot lately about work. They say that if you find something you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life. I don't believe it, but I think that being passionate about what you do will lead you to take joy and pleasure in your work, rather than disdaining or avoiding it. Americans care a lot about work-its always the first question that someone asks at a dinner party. Where do you work?or What do you do? Ever since I realized this, I actually try to avoid asking that question. I like to ask people what they're passionate about. That's much more interesting than hearing about there job at so and so and so.

I've been very lucky to have a career doing something that I love. Emory is my home away from home, and in some ways the love of my life. A lot of money has flowed from these halls. From me to them. From them to me. But more than that, I met people here that changed my life. When I came to Emory at age 18 (barely), I was not self-aware, or confident. I was intelligent, but not emotionally intelligent. Here, I built up my self-awareness. I developed a personality and a spunk. I found and nurtured passions. After two years, I traveled across the ocean to see if I could change my life in Paris. I did. I learned I could do anything. I experimented, and walked, and dared, and ate, and spoke. For a year, I felt different and free. When I came back, it was very hard to adjust to just being normal again. I've always tried to reinvent myself over and over again.

So, now, I feel comforted by my dreams. I know that I won't have to work every day for the rest of my life. And I definitely won't have to work for someone else. Someday soon my life will be about flavor and spice. Texture and temperature. Service and bread crumbs. My dream changes shape constantly but its always there like a hot fire in my belly.

On this boring, dragging Friday afternoon, in an office, at a computer, with a flesh-colored phone with orange buttons, I am comforted by that fact. I see the sky outside-and its bright and clear and inviting. The breeze is cool. And I know that everything is going to be ok.