Have you ever had for yourself a New Year’s Resolution? Those are mainly about setting up goals on how you want to improve yourself, and how to get there, like if you wanted to quit a bad habit or get in better physical shape. I’m dedicating this entire website to answering one simple question: where do I want to be in terms on being better, in the next 10 years? Think of this as a set of New Decade’s Resolutions.

Before 2010, I was living in my childhood, adolescent and teenage years, and I had to deal will a lot of personal challenges, such as a general lack of freedom and autonomy, that caused me stress and anxiety constantly; I had no job, almost no money, no clear path for college, peer pressure from school, pressures with growing up… not to mention hearing about 9/11, the War on Terror and the Great Recession. I felt all the time like I had fears and problems weighing down on me with no easy solutions, not even from the people who listened to what they were, if there were any.

The adults I had to grow up with seemed to have all the power to make my plans for me, so I felt almost powerless to make my own. But then I watched the election the United States had in 2008, and witnessed a black man, Barack Obama, being democratically elected as President by the American people, despite the country’s centuries-long history of black subjugation. This showed me that circumstances in life can change for the better, even from the worst of situations. So by 2009, I decided to take a stand, having just become a young adult, to chart my own course for reform and growth.

In 2010, I had my first-ever Decade of Dreams planned out – it was my personal commitment to spending the next ten years turning my life around from struggle to success, in as many different ways as possible. Back then, it was a time when I would’ve almost figured the future year 2020 would be, well, more futuristic, like this:

In the past 10 years since then, I think that I’ve really come a long way, once I look back into what I’ve done. Social media allowed me to connect with over 700 friends old and new from nearly every continent on Earth, along with many aunts, uncles and cousins I never knew I had. I expanded my art by drawing a lot more Pokémon than I ever thought I would, and sharing them further away from home than I ever could have imagined.

But the real progress for me came in 2015 when I got paid to work at Walmart and made several investments with the money I earned; I learned how to use public transport, how to build websites and graphics, and more about my family history. I earned my GED, driver’s license, passport, college degree, and even better eyesight! (I had LASIK done).

So by the grace of God, I’ve come a long way since then, but I still have a long way to go. So where DO I want to go next, and HOW do I get there? That’s what the 2020 Decade of Dreams will be all about.

Because there were so many details I’ve thought of over these goals, I’ve decided to put them in blog posts on this WordPress website, written and built by me. Compared to posting them here on social media, this will allow for more flexibility in what I can share, and in who I can share it with. You should be able to find a dropdown menu to them all when you tap on “Menu” or hover over the big white words “Decade of Dreams Goals” above. The pages should work for display on your desktop on mobile device – if not, let me know.

Hope you have fun reading, and here’s to 2030 and the future beyond!

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

Abraham Lincoln

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Elanor Roosevelt

“The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on. We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.”

Barack Obama