on anniversaries + immigrants
COME TO THIS, SAN FRANCISCO FRIENDS —
for as long as i can remember, i’ve been a sucker for anniversaries.
not just in the friendship or romantic sense.
and not just in the annual sense, either.
i love a good self-centered celebration, whether it marks four years since i started my food instagram, or 12 months since i submitted my last final for undergrad. i smile when i realize its been 2 months of having a healthy desk plant, and don’t get me started about the monthly opportunity to raise a glass to living in san francisco (i’m nine months in).
my friends and family lovingly laugh at my obsession around these dates, and my following proclamation (and pause) about said dates. met with silence, i can’t help but imagine that underneath those loving laughs, *someone* is finding it both exhausting and egotistical that i am so publicly proud of my nine month work anniversary.
firstly, i don’t expect you to care. secondly, i don’t blame you for thinking i’m being egotistical. i am. but, all that said, being this kind of selfish has had some great benefits. so for those of you that need a challenge to take on (or just want an excuse to be high five yourself), i thought i‘d explain my philosophy on arbitrary anniversaries.
but, before you piggyback, first my words + reads,
my words: i wrote about how legalpad raised $10 million to help immigrant entrepreneurs with the visa process. the startup provides software and counsel to help entrepreneurs from other countries stay in the united states and score work authorization documents like H-1Bs
etc: legalpad is faster than a traditional law firm, but more expensive, which brings up the evergreen reality of access to resources as access to opportunity. for example, i talked to a seattle-based company which had to drop one of their employees after the fees around visas got too intensive. “we’re a relatively small [company], Microsoft and Amazon locally here have a ton of foreign [talent] and full-time lawyers who help them manage resources.” meanwhile, the company struggled to afford the upwards of $6,000 in fees for one worker.
learning lesson: a few (from my count, two) venture capital firms explicitly offer support around immigration services for their portfolio companies. i wrote a story about this a while back, and have yet to see any other vcs add this to their ever-growing offering list. for firms that flex diversity and inclusivity, i wonder how this is still missing.
unorganized tab time:
when google is no longer the dream
anyways
i like to celebrate seemingly simple anniversaries because it’s my way of thinking about my year-round resilience. if you’re someone that is as community focused as i am, you get why being the own character of your reflection is such an important (yet challenging) place to get to.
anniversaries are built-in pauses, and so be it if it takes something as corny as an orbit around the sun to make me grateful for my strength.
because when i do the math, something special happens. sure, i realize it has been four years since i started my food instagram. i also realize it has been four years since i gave up for good on fad diets and committed to a long term game of being healthier.
and sure, i remember it has been 365 days since i hit ‘click’ on my keyboard and submitted my last final of undergrad. but then a few minutes later, i also remember that 365 days ago, i pretty much accepted that san francisco was not in my cards.
and that tumbles into realizing that it has been nine months since i moved to the city i’d written off. and with that i remember that nine months ago, i picked risk over comfort. and that risk over comfort has always done me right.
and yes, when i lift my head from my laptop and see my limp-yet-alive desk plant, i can flex that it indeed has been an evergreen few months. but i can also….well, i don’t have a bigger takeaway here but sometimes you just need to be happy that you don’t ruin every plant you optimistically buy. every day counts.
i think it’s important to add a narcissistic anniversary (or two) to your life, not for external accolades or acknowledgment, but solely to remind yourself that you have been putting one foot in front of another for a while now. download timehop, get dependent on snapchat memories, whatever works.
and hey, unlike the anniversaries you share with others, this one can be celebrated as quietly as a smile, or as perfectly as a cheeseboard for one and a reservation on your couch.
to (almost) six whole months of too wordy,
n
subhead by Phil Hearing on Unsplash