Pursuit of Happiness(es)

When I was younger, I was thrilled to go to college. An avid reader and one of the few it seemed who loved going to school, college seemed like heaven: learn whatever you want; everyone's intellectually hungry; labs, books, and bliss every day.

In my idea of Fantasy U, I'd be able to pursue all my passions. When I got my diploma, I'd walk off the stage an astronaut-mathematician-author-paleontologist-historian... I was going to earn those hyphens and that ellipsis!

And then reality hit. But more accurately, society hit. Growing up, I was pushed to a STEM path. And not just me, but so many parents of kids my age try to define and commit their child to a hobby or talent or passion for the rest of their lives.

But then I look at Donald Glover. I was watching Atlanta Tuesday (because my loyalty to Royalty is real) and I was suddenly consumed with pride and admiration. I will always applaud the success of another black male or female, but in Glover's case I couldn't help but to gawk at his portfolio. He wrote for 30 Rock pretty much immediately after graduating college. At that point, he could already be labeled a success ...  but he left 30 Rock. Not because he no longer had a passion for writing, but because writing wasn't his only passion. He has 

• Done stand up
• Acted on Community for nearly five whole seasons
• LEFT Community just because he just wanted to be on his own
• Learned to program, and advocated for the younger generation to learn to code
• Written, directed, and starred in a short film
• Written, produced, created and acted in Atlanta

In this A.V. Club interview, he says his mom said (in regards to him leaving his job at 30 Rock), “I don’t get it. What are you doing?” When he was left Community, people thought his choice to rap as Childish Gambino was Glover playing around or even making a mistake. People loved Troy, why would he just walk away from that?

It might seem like I'm stanning right now, but there's much to be learned from Glover. He could have stayed in any of the areas he's stuck a foot in and found successes. But, he stayed true to his varied and far reaching passions and it has paid off.

Along with Bino, I look to Elon Musk as a great source of inspiration. Elon Musk is LITERALLY a real world Tony Stark. He's known for

• Tesla
• SpaceX
• Now owning SolarCity
• Popularizing the Hyperloop
• Being a strong proponent for interplanetary travel

But in Musk's case, his failures are just as, if not more, important than as his successes. Failed launches, burning electric cars, almost going bankrupt. For some, any of these obstacles would lead to a reevaluation of your priorities. Plenty of people thought he was spreading himself too thin, spending too much time at one company when another was sinking, having goals considered to be too lofty. 

But look at what he's accomplished by saying "All of these are important to me, nothing's being abandoned." He's made the science fiction concept of returning reusable rockets routine; SpaceX is now the face of modern day space travel; and 325,000 $1000 reservations for the Tesla 3, a car not even on the market yet, were made a week after unveiling it.

Glover and Musk are fantastic figures in my eyes, but I can't finish this without mentioning Batman. I've always been drawn to him as one of my favorite superheroes, mostly because he had no powers. He earned his place among these gods and weirdly was probably more of a symbol of the American way than Superman (minus the disposition obviously): despite the worst or most scarring events, through hard work he reshaped his destiny and his place in the world.

How did he rebuild himself? Through brain and brawn. Bruce Wayne has multiple degrees and knows various martial arts. Now, one might make the argument that as a fictional character it carries less weight to have all these accolades. But this is not a post about the practicality of achieving so many amazing things. This is a post about the mindset behind those achievements.

I'm not even 20 years old yet i.e. I have more years ahead of me than behind. I'm not done yet and still figuring things out. But I know for sure that I want to be happy and I want to do what I love. So I write, not to become some internet celeb, but because this is what I like to do. I develop apps and read books and learn languages because these things make me happy and I think it's ridiculous to give any of them up so that I may restrict myself to a sliver of the satisfaction I currently have to satisfy others. 

Like Mufasa (RIP) said "Everything the light touches is our kingdom". I plan on enjoying everything under the sun. Why else do you think they call me King Sol?