Zero to One
The great artists are always willing to start over
Is that something you’re willing to do?
If I had to sum up my junior year of college, that’s the question I’d leave you with. Honestly, I thought this would be the year I finally figured everything out, or at least figured things out relatively well. But just as I thought I had it all together, I found myself right back at zero.
Coming back to America, I realized just how fast everything moves. If you’re not ten steps ahead, it feels like you’re twenty steps behind, and that can be exhausting. At the same time, this relentless pace has its perks. It forces you to keep moving, to fail, and to pick yourself up again and again. That’s the reality of the world. It sounds cliché, but it’s true.
I’ve always been the kind of person who sets five main goals and tries to frame all my experiences around them—academically, socially, and otherwise. But this year, I threw that completely out the window. I decided to see what life had to offer if I just went with the flow and worked with what I had. That story is a long one, and something I’ll share in more detail in the future, but for now I just want to focus on the idea of going from zero to one.
I’m a big podcast person. I find it easier to connect when I can actually listen to the stories being told. One of my favorites is Modern Wisdom by Chris Williamson. In one episode, he had a guest who talked about the “44 Harsh Truths of Human Nature.” Without going on and on about the episode itself, the biggest thing I took from it was the idea of going from zero to one.
That’s basically the story of our lives. No matter how much we evolve, we are constantly starting at zero and moving to one, again and again. That lesson hit hardest this year, especially in this grey transition period of my life. Ending up at zero isn’t the end—it’s the start. Not to sound like a “hope-core” writer, but that’s really how it feels.
With that realization comes new opportunities, especially over these next two months, during what feels like the final summer before adulthood begins. I’m starting to face the challenge of carving out what my “career” might look like. It’s scary and exciting. I know there will be a lot failures, and that’s part of the opportunity. It feels like being dropped into a jungle and told to find your own path through it. That’s what starting over really means—being willing to dive in, even when you don’t have all the answers.
Have a great week
-Lexi
Since taking a sabbatical this year, it’s been wild to see how much this platform has grown in the background. Thank you to everyone who’s been here from the start, and welcome to all the new faces.