ODYSSEUS

THERE WAS NO SINGLE BEGINNING, NO DEFINING STARTING POINT. INSTEAD, MY PATH EMERGED THROUGH A SERIES OF FORCES COLLIDING AND MERGING OVER TIME. THESE MOMENTS, SEEMINGLY DISCONNECTED, GRADUALLY ALIGNED INTO A CURRENT, CARRYING ME TOWARD A DESTINATION I COULD NOT HAVE FORESEEN.

A TIME OF CREATION—WORKS MADE FOR MONEY AND RECOGNITION—FELT LIKE SUCCESS IN ITS SIMPLICITY. THE TRANSACTION OF TALENT FOR MATERIAL GAIN AND PRAISE WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD. YET, IT NEVER FILLED THE SPACE I HOPED IT WOULD. THE FULFILMENT FADED AS QUICKLY AS IT ARRIVED, LEAVING A VOID THAT COULD NOT BE IGNORED.

THEN, A SHIFT. AN UNEXPECTED INFLUENCE IN THE FORM OF A TUTOR WHO INTRODUCED A RADICAL WAY OF THINKING. HER APPROACH DISRUPTED THE “SENSIBLE” PATH I HAD CHOSEN, COLLAPSING THE STRUCTURE I HAD BEGUN TO BUILD. WHAT INITIALLY FELT LIKE A DESTRUCTION REVEALED SOMETHING ELSE: A CURIOUS LIGHT PIERCING THROUGH THE CRACKS, REMINDING ME OF A WORLD I HAD STOPPED QUESTIONING.

ANOTHER FORCE CAME IN THE FORM OF AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS—A FAITH BUILT ON FOUNDATIONS NOT OF MY OWN MAKING, CRUMBLING UNDER ITS OWN WEIGHT. QUESTIONS I HAD BURIED LONG AGO RESURFACED, AND I HAD TO CONFRONT THE FRAGILITY OF WHAT I BELIEVED. THIS UNCERTAINTY DIDN’T BREAK ME; IT IGNITED A SEARCH FOR MEANING THAT FELT TRULY MY OWN.

FINALLY, A CONTRAST: A RELATIONSHIP THAT EXPOSED THE CHAOS OF MY INTERNAL WORLD AGAINST THE CERTAINTY OF ANOTHER. IN THIS CONTRAST, I SAW THE NEED FOR ORIENTATION—NOT TOWARD THEIR PATH BUT TOWARD ONE I WOULD HAVE TO BUILD MYSELF.

THESE MOMENTS DID NOT EXIST IN ISOLATION. THEY WERE CURRENTS IN A CONVERGING RIVER, SHAPING AND REDIRECTING MY JOURNEY AS THEY MET. TOGETHER, THEY BROUGHT ME TO THIS POINT: THE CREATION OF CODE-SWITCH, AN ATTEMPT TO NAVIGATE AND TRANSLATE THE FORCES THAT SHAPED ME.

CODE-SWITCH IS NOT THE END RESULT BUT A VESSEL FOR CONTINUING THE JOURNEY—A WAY TO EMBRACE THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE CURRENT WHILE SEEKING ALIGNMENT AND POSSIBILITY.