Soccer, Programming, and Yoga
The irresistible smell of my mom’s special made Vietnamese beef noodle is everywhere. While I try to calm my impatient stomach down, my siblings playfully chase each other around the kitchen. As always, I get pulled into the battlefield and serve as a barricade between the two combative warriors. When the foods we’ve waited five hours for are ready, we return to being friendly siblings, and hurry to the dining table. As we start to relish mom’s love, my siblings and I entertain the house with our jokes and stories. Welcome to one of my homes! It’s a place full of unconditional love, happiness, and trust.
But this isn’t the only place I feel at home.
My heart beats fast with great excitement. “Got me!”― I shout. I receive the ball and turn towards the goal. With optimism, I hope for the best. And… “SCORE!” My teammates gather around me and celebrate. Welcome to another of my homes. Every day on the field is a new adventure with my sisters. Even when it’s 39 °F and raining outside, and my flat feet are begging me to stop, my heart refuses. I have realized that my soccer experience would not have been as enjoyable without my sisters. In the beginning, as someone who was not very confident in my soccer skills, I felt anxious being on a team where everyone was counting on me. However, I have learned to stop putting so much pressure on myself, and to just have fun and try my best. Even if I make mistakes, I know that my teammates will still support me.
Click Run! It finally works. Every time I work on creating an app, I get lost in a different world, where time, day and night don’t exist. Welcome to one of my homes. All the apps that I have created have a meaningful purpose, such as providing tips on how to reduce our carbon footprint, and making suggestions about what kind of music to listen to. Even though fixing the bugs is annoying, it’s what brings exhilaration to programming. For me, there can be no excitement and transformation without challenges. Programming has taught me to become a problem solver and a changemaker. I want to use my skills to help solve social issues, such as poverty, and to help improve society in the future.
Slowly breathing in and out, my soul, body, and spirit become one. I am in the present, not the past or the future. I am a strong and confident warrior, while in my most calm state. Although one of my legs might shake as I make it to the airplane pose, my mind is steady. Welcome to my other home. Yoga helps me connect to my spiritual self and learn how to strengthen and love it. Everyday, I try to spread my positivity and energy to everyone surrounding me. People ask if I ever get tired. The truth is, I do. I love to share my positivity, but at the end of the day, I often feel depleted. Yoga helps to replenish and prepare me to wake up the next morning, and spread my energy to everyone again.
In the future, I want to continue spreading my enthusiasm, love, and passion in many more places that I will call home.