22 was a huge year for me.
I’m currently sitting in a car on a four-hour car ride to another city, and I’m legitimately getting emotional.
This wasn’t me winning a championship or dealing with a low point of my life; what got me emotional was a reminder of where a year has taken me.
Over the past year, I've been through multiple jobs, but through it all, I've connected with many great people, traveled around the country, reached 20,000 followers on my sports Instagram page @sparkarthur, began a biweekly NBA podcast "Blog Boys Pod," and continued to find my passion for storytelling and sports.
When I wrote last year’s post on my birthday, I shared my story of battling depression. It was a scary thing to do, a moment of vulnerability, but I’ve learned so much about myself and was able to build stronger relationships through shared experiences with my friends and family.
In fact, last July, I was a few months removed from graduating college, without a full-time job and living paycheck to paycheck.
Three months later, I picked up a full-time job in an office working a 9-to-5 for a startup in a business setting, something that had nothing to do with the journalism major I pursued in college.
A few weeks on the job, I realized I wasn’t happy. I stuck with it as long as I could because I feared being seen as a failure, let alone a quitter. But after a long consideration and talk with one of my childhood friends, he convinced me to follow my heart and take the leap of faith.
I ended up parting ways with the company in December and immediately, I thought to myself, here we go again. It’s still the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life; all my friends had jobs and were living comfortably or went back to school to pursue higher education.
They had a plan. I was still finding mine.
But God works in mysterious ways and He showed me that there will always be new doors filled with opportunities.
I first picked up a camera back in May 2017 entering the summer of my senior year. I wanted to practice shooting in preparation for the upcoming school year, where I wanted to shoot sports photos for the school newspaper.
I quickly became attached with shooting all sorts of things and photography became a hobby of mine. As a journalist, it was another way to share a story.
However, I never would imagined photography to become my full-time job. Since the start of 2019, the camera has led me to so many different, unexpected avenues and new relationships.
Little did I know a camera would allow me to connect and build relationships with some great people all around the world, travel to new places, and continue to share some amazing stories.
I want to give a huge thank you to all the people that have continued to support me along this journey. From brands to athletes, coaches and marketing executives, I can’t thank you enough for giving me a chance to work with you and share your stories. To my fellow creatives and friends, I appreciate you all for helping me grow as an individual and continuing to inspire me to be the best I can be. And to my family, thanks for being patient with me being gone from home a lot and for continuously inspiring me to pursue my dreams.
Looking back at it all, the best thing to do is to dream big, believe in your abilities and your character, have fun, and most importantly, take that leap of faith. You never know where it will take you.