SXSW Can Strengthen Your Legs and Inspire You

Thanks to E4 Youth, My legs wanted to commit suicide during my spring break. Through the program Youth Media Project, E4 Youth gave me and my friends the amazing opportunity to explore South by Southwest with gold badges. We saw spectacular films, listened to amazing keynote speakers, and probably walked the distance of a marathon. I took a lot away from This event. Ignoring the sore legs, I took away things like motivation.

For a while I had been in sort of a rut. I had been reflecting on how close my graduation is and I had been thinking about the next chapter of my life. I was scared about going to college, leaving my friends, and having to start over again. The thing I was most scared of though was losing sight of my dreams. In the past I had made a YouTube channel as a place to post my creative works, but as I time went by I saw that my view count was barely rising. Seeing this really discouraged me and made me doubt my talents. Soon after I completely gave up on the channel, and my creative dreams.

Towards the end of my first day of SXSW, Mr. Perez (my A/V teacher) came up to me and my friends and started praising the founder of “Bee Sweet”. He went on about how great she was for following her dream and making a difference at such a young age. One of my friends commented saying she wished she could be as big as her, and my teacher responded saying “Why can’t you?”. Though these words weren’t directed at me they hit me hard. I immediately thought about my YouTube channel. I remembered how I stopped writing and producing because I told myself I couldn’t be good enough to make it big. Then I went back to Mr. Perez’s words and they started to ring throughout my head. His words made me fill guilty, but it also motivated me. When I got home that night, I immediately started thinking about how I could bring my channel back to life and I started pondering new ideas for my stories. I didn’t focus on “What if I’m not good enough?” or “What if no one likes me?” all I cared about was creating things I enjoyed.

That night was only the being of my motivation. Seeing amazing films at SXSW like “BLACK” and watching small time developers show off their amazing games at the gaming expo, just filled me with excitement. A rush of ideas entered my mind as I had so much fun with my friends at the Convention.

Thanks to E4 Youth I was given an experience that saved me from giving up on my dreams. I was able to have a fantastic time with my friends downtown. I was able to go to one of the biggest conventions in the U.S. YMP gave me a opportunity of a life time and I am deeply grateful for it.

Credits

Footage provided by

James Evans and Lin Nguyen

Music provided by

Kontinuum
• https://www.youtube.com/user/Kontinuu…
• https://www.facebook.com/itsKontinuum/
• https://soundcloud.com/kontinuum
• https://twitter.com/itskontinuum

Voice actor(s)

James Evans-Mysterious Alien Voice

Edited by

James Evans