This is officially my last summer reflection, and taking the summer off has taken me to so many incredible places. Some expected, like my trip to Europe, and some unexpected, like attending a hackathon I wasn't participating in just for the workshops, meeting a startup founder downtown and contributing ideas to their product, and writing all these blogs.

The themes of the summer

Since we're at the end, I want to reflect on everything that has happened this summer. I tried writing out general points and themes about what happened, and I probably shouldn't be surprised that it is far too long to write out for this blog. No one wants to read 9 bullet points with 5 sub-bullets total.

That said, there's some important lessons learned that I plan on going over in this blog, all of which I genuinely hope are helpful/inspirational advice in some way. They cover self-growth, finding cool opportunities, and professional relationship building, among some smaller topics. Taking this time off has been the best thing I could have done, and even if I never have this much free time in the future, I hope to learn from myself and use at least one of these tips in the future.

Taking that leap is important

My absolute best moments this summer (outside of my trips) were when I took a leap of faith. Tried something I was worried about or put myself in a situation I wasn't confident I could succeed in. Pushing myself to grow was a motivating factor, but after the first few, I started to realize that these leaps were putting me in really valuable places.

These leaps were taken from something that caught my attention and I decided to just go for. To name a few, there was the case competition [case]Hacks, Toronto Tech Week, and going backcountry camping for the first time. From these, I gained valuable relationships, learned a lot about my field, and had incredible new experiences that have helped me grow.

I also touched on this in my lifelong learning blog, but putting in this effort once makes it easier the next time. Practice makes perfect. Some of the best growth comes from new situations/environments, and it's uncomfortable at first. I'm really grateful that I put in the effort this summer, because I'm a lot more motivated to continue after seeing how much that effort has benefited me.

Just ask

Something difficult in finding new opportunities can be asking. It's such a cliche, but the worst thing someone could say really is "no". And if they do say no, asking yourself "why" is a great way to grow. We can get caught up on perfection, not beginning something unless we know we'll succeed, but the greatest learning comes from doing. Again, that effort is what matters. And I firmly believe that someone who recognizes the effort that others put in is exactly the person you'd most want to say "yes".

A comforting realization for me is that most incredible people will respect me for asking, so even if I am told no, something has come out of it. And this matters not just for asking but for sharing your opinion. Someone thanked me a lot for randomly messaging my opinion because I wanted to share it and it helped them out. That made me grateful to have said something.

To be clear, there have been many other examples this summer where I reached out and got silence. Or disinterest. Even just a lack of alignment between my goals and theirs. But the moments of success far outweigh everything else.

Back to the idea of practice, I think that reaching out is an important skill to practice. It has done wonders for me this summer, so it clearly has value. What's key in making it work is having genuine interest and authentically sharing your opinion. After that, it's just hoping that the person you reach out to is interested in what you have to say.

Bringing multiple lessons together

Here's a fun example that combines many of the above lessons. It's a real situation that played out for me over the course of the entire summer.

Firstly, trying something new and attending events where I know no one. I went to a case competition/hackathon, driving a full hour away, and met someone cool with really interesting perspectives on AI and community.

Next, putting myself out there. I wanted to talk to them, so they invited me to a tech event downtown they planned on attending. A nice mobility clinic in the park. I met great people and was inspired by them to make these blogs public.

This also touches on building relationships. I'd found someone I genuinely respected and admired, with interesting perspectives and an openness to discuss things deeper than boring networking. As I've realized, keeping your connections with incredible people is extremely valuable, so I made sure to message after the initial event and then meet again downtown. They also mentioned having a weekly substack where they post cool events and their thoughts, so naturally I subscribed.

Finally, just sending that message on your mind. I'd already put in effort by meeting them downtown and staying up-to-date with the substack, and one week they directly asked for people's thoughts. I sent a message with many thoughts, which they were very grateful for and even featured on the next week's blog! Not only that, but I shared my lifelong learning blog which they really enjoyed and also featured. Now they were grateful to have supported my writing journey, and I could also help give them ideas for their future blogs!

It's building relationships like this that really make the difference in life. I may never approach them in a professional context, but I greatly value their thoughts and they've already inspired me to do so much. Needless to say, I'm grateful I went to that event in the first place, and I think this is a great example of what can happen when you put yourself out there.

Wrapping up

At the beginning of the summer, I wrote about what I hoped to accomplish. I'm very happy to see that I did that and more. In fact, a fun bit about the app I talked about making is that I deployed it (and a few more) on the web so I can now access them from my phone!

I also mused about how I would structure my days when they weren't already structured by school or work. Given my focus on relationship building and personal projects, that structure ended up coming from my social time. I'd meet old friends, people from work I enjoyed talking to, and new people who I wanted to know better. Some of these came from events that I took a leap of faith and attended. Then, in my downtime, I'd explore hobbies or build my personal projects. At the end of the summer, I now have multiple fully-fleshed websites that I use regularly, plus tons of great photos from all the events, so I'd say it was time well spent.

So, the summer is over, and it has been the best summer I could have asked for. If anyone reading this wants to hear more about anything I got up to or clarification on any advice, feel free to reach out. My greatest piece of advice right now is to get out there, try new things and have fun. I promise it'll lead somewhere good :)