Thinking back to when I first played Minecraft, I remember the first time I ventured into a cave, feeling the thrill of discovery and the fear of getting lost. Then, years later, I could navigate strongholds and mineshafts with ease. I was proud of building my first house... only to later construct sprawling cities and intricate redstone contraptions... 

Each time I thought I had reached the pinnacle of my creativity, I found new ways to challenge myself.

I learned how to survive longer. 

In many ways, this course feels the same. I know that by the end of this, I will look back and see just how much I have changed.  Before, I might have seen success as reaching a certain level, that I had to master a skill, achieve a certain grade to be deemed good, or create something worth noting.

But now, I realize that peak is relative; subjective in a way that it is not fixed nor absolute. It can only be defined by me.

It is a cycle of surpassing myself, which means I am never truly done. 

The Montessorian motto. I was taught this, studying at my previous school. Recently, I have come to appreciate its depth even more. The idea that learning is not just about you, but also about becoming of service to others is something I carry with me. I treat everything as if it were my teacher; keeping me in check, humbling myself in front of God and those I love. I owe it to myself to make the most out of everything. There is always something to learn if I choose to see it that way. 

One thing I have noticed in this class is the humanity we receive from our professor. He teaches us as if we were people with souls as well as minds—something that should be a given fact, yet still deserves recognition. In an academic system that often prioritizes efficiency over connection, it is refreshing to be in a space that values genuine discourse and meaningful exchanges. 

With the system we have now, I believe we should all actively pursue interrelatedness and build substantial conversations. It is easy to go through the motions, to absorb information passively. But true learning happens when we engage, when we seek to understand not just for the sake of knowing.

To be able to help others by first learning how to help myself, to ask for assistance, and unapologetically so, to see the value in all things, whether it comes from a book, a passing moment, and spoken from tongue... It all makes a difference. It is always deep, there is always something there.

Plant something, and it will always grow. A flower in full bloom is no more complete than the bud before it. A mountain’s summit is not superior to the winding paths leading up to it. A towering tree is not superior to the sapling reaching for light. Every stage of growth carries its own significance, and every captured frame tells a story of movement, of becoming. 

A decaying leaf is not the end of something; it is the transformation into something new. A shadow stretching across a wall is not simply the absence of light but an evolving interplay of time and space. 

What we perceive as an end is often just another beginning.

Photography teaches us that growth is not linear. The way light changes, how subjects evolve, how meaning shifts depending on our vantage point, all of it reminds us that we are not striving toward a single point, but rather a new way of seeing.

Whatever we capture teaches us something: perpective in image, as well as life. What if, instead of standing at the top, we are in a constant state of ascent?

Photography allows us to capture moments of transition, to document growth in its rawest form. How expressions evolve with time, or how a structure changes through renewal... 

The peak is wherever we stand.

I am in the process of figuring out the final project. There is both excitement and unease, and understandably so. There can  always be fear in what we do not know. 

It is easy to feel the weight of expectation, whether spoken or unspoken, but I remind myself that surpassing is not about doing more than someone else.

So, am I up for the challenge? Yes, but not in the way one might expect. I do not seek to surpass others. I seek to surpass myself. To take what I have learned, everything I have seen, and shape it into something that is undeniably my own.

The only one who can beat me is me. I believe that. Nobody can ever do life like me, and I say this not as a declaration of confidence, but as a quiet acknowledgment of myself.

There will always be craft more refined than mine, writers who articulate their ideas more elegantly. But their journey is not mine to follow. None of that negates the value of where I stand now, nor does it diminish the path I have taken to get here. What matters is not how I measure up to them, but whether I am further along than I was before.

It is a conversation within myself. 

I am not chasing a finish line... I am building the path as I go. And that, in and of itself, is more than enough. 

No version of me is absolute. I am always becoming.