What I Learned At College

I had a photography instructor once who changed my view on life. His name was Kevin. I cannot recall his last name at this time but we all simply called our teachers by their first names and his name was Kevin and he was a photographer. He was known for being difficult. He taught Photo II at 8am on Friday morning and that is the absolute worst time and day to go hang out in the darkroom for 4 hours.

But one thing he said once, one of the truths that fell out of his mouth that I still reflect on today was this: Don't try to do something so hard that you miss out on something greater. He was talking about working with negatives in the darkroom, of course, but his words still resound to me today in almost all aspects of my life.

Don't try so hard to create something that you don't see something more wonderful you could create.
Don't try so hard to be something that you don't see something greater that you could be.

It's good to have goals and it's good to have dreams and to work toward those. But pure single-mindedness can lead to a very small life.

Don't try so hard to do something that you miss out on something better.

Maybe one of the single most important things I learned at college.