Man, what a ride.
I've received my final grades for the semester and have officially graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Honours academic standing.
My post-secondary education did not start here, though.
You see, I was originally supposed to go to the University of Toronto to play football, but due to depression and my grades declining, I decided not to pursue the school anymore.
Now, I had nowhere to go and was contacting all the coaches I knew to see if they were recruiting any defensive backs (my position).
I received an offer from the University of British Columbia with a little athletic scholarship. I got in contact with Saint Mary's University, and that led to me signing with them with a decent $3,500+ athletic scholarship.
However, my stay at Saint Mary's was short-lived, as I experienced a depressive/suicidal episode, which led me to choose to leave the school, although the coaches suggested that I should not leave.
I came back home devastated, and for two months, I did nothing but get food delivery and watch endless movies and TV shows in my bedroom.
I was planning to go to the University of Calgary to play football after getting accepted and speaking to the head coach at the time.
Yet, that was short-lived once again, after my psychiatrist said it was better to stay close to home.
So, I stayed near home and attended Sheridan College. I initially studied Chemical Engineering Technology, but eventually switched to Software Development and Network Engineering, in which I finished my first semester with a 3.7 GPA.
Then, I realized that I wanted to go back to university, so I transferred to the University of Guelph and was elated.
Due to my father previously being a professor there in the Computer Science Faculty before he passed away, I had most of my tuition covered, so that relieved me from all the unnecessary stress of paying for school.
I got in as an Economics major, initially, but later switched to English, and then finally Philosophy.
Now, I'm here.
However, there were a lot of challenges that I didn't mention, like the times when I didn't want to live anymore and got hospitalized, the constant school dropouts despite being in good academic standing, etc.
Despite the bad, there was also a lot of good: I won three hackathon awards, got accepted to YSpace & Rise, got featured on the radio for music various times, founded startups which sparked my entrepreneurial journey, etc.
But, I am honestly only here through faith and belief that there is hope for another tomorrow.
That resilience and persistence were deeply rooted in my veins and kept me living for an additional day.
Yet, it wasn't all me, it was thanks to my Mom.
Thank you, Mom.
This is for you,
And Dad, I miss you.
But, thank you for marrying this special woman.
I wouldn't be here today without her ❤️