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Moved to Japan
Age 2-10. Early Childhood/Middle Childhood. Autonomy vs doubt, initiative vs guilt, industry vs inferiority. Family moved overseas. Macrosystem of cultural values was different from Japanese/American friends as I had my feet in both worlds. -
Joined A Band
Age 14. Middle adolescence (teenager). Identity vs Confusion. Some people at my school learned I played the drums and asked me to join their band. Through this I had a wonderfully colorful high school experience. We are all still lifelong friends -
First Car
Age 15. Middle adolescence (teenager). Identity vs Confusion. My family bought me a broken down car I nicknamed "rolling turd" as it started out a mostly rust brown but had a smattering of several other colors. Fixed it up from the bottom up. It was always a talking point for meeting new friends and is one of the major milestones in my highschool years. -
Mission service
Age 19. Emerging Adulthood. Identity vs confusion. After high school I decided to serve a two year mission for my church. This was a grueling yet rewarding experience. As I came to describe it, it was a "million dollar experience I wouldn't pay a nickel to relive". I learned a lot about myself, dug deep, and accomplished more than I thought I could. -
Joined Another Band
Age 21. Emerging Adulthood. Intimacy vs isolation. As expressed in a previous event, I play the drums. After returning from my mission service I joined a band in college. This was a different experience as my first band was about fun and camaraderie and this new band shifted into a business and had much more serious tone. I realized that I didn't want to pursue music and was a turning point for me on my career and interpersonal relationships. I dove deep into school, work, and got married. -
Started First Real Job
Age 21. Emerging Adulthood. Intimacy vs isolation. Another event in 2015 that was influential was starting my first real job. It was mostly part time as I was working through my undergraduate degree but I worked a lot of hours, developed skills, and was mentored by some truly great professionals. This led to further work opportunities for years to come and a passion for event production. Starting this job was one of the reasons I moved away performing at events to producing events. -
Worst Year Ever
Age 22. Emerging Adulthood. Intimacy vs Isolation. 2016 was the year I left my band, broke my leg, had my engagement called off, lived alone, and was severely depressed. It was a time of major reflection, philosophical debate, internal moral struggle, and something I refer back to as a crucible to which became a cornerstone of my life. I learned endurance, self-kindness, and how to plug away at my life one day at a time until better things came around -
Got Married
Age 23. Young adulthood. Intimacy vs isolation. Coming off the worst year of my life in 2016, 2017 was nothing but highlights and good living. I met my wife in the beginning of the year and got married at the end of the year. All of the hardships I learned from in 2016 became positive things for my relationship and life in 2017. With my wife at my side, I graduated college, started my career, and continued putting my life together one day at a time. -
New State, New Home, New Job
Age 24. Emerging adulthood. Intimacy vs isolation. In 2018 I graduated college and moved states and started my career. I worked under Clinical Social Workers and developed more skills in clinical assessment, treatment, customer service and so on. I was mentored personally by directors in my company and they set me up for school and further professional opportunities. I didn't have any photos of my work that were HIPPA compliant to post here but my cute posing in our new home when we first moved -
New Pursuits
Age 28. Emerging adulthood. Intimacy vs isolation. This year I moved back to Arizona to commit myself to graduate school and take real steps in becoming a therapist (my lifelong goal) and getting a real start on my career. While I've done other pursuits like lighting, Telos (working under LCSW professionals) this year marks the true beginning of the rest of my life in my opinion. This photo is a figure from my DND, a new hobby I picked up. This represents how anything is possible