If one were to start investing just 15% of their annual income in stocks, assuming they start in their early 20’s, they could generate millions of dollars by the age of 50. With the power of compounding and a lot of patience, one can create wealth over time. However, in order to invest one must first learn how to save money. The ability to save money, although simple, is a difficult skill to acquire and is one of the most essential skills to becoming financially successful. Saving is a very straightforward concept yet many struggle and end up spending most of their income on dining out, buying fancy cars, and things of that nature. As important as these things are, there should be a balance between your needs and your wants. It is very similar to the Stanford marshmallow experiment where kids were given the choice between eating a marshmallow immediately or waiting 15 minutes and receiving two marshmallows. The vast majority of kids chose to eat the marshmallow immediately instead of delaying their gratification and receiving a larger reward. Many people also choose immediate gratification and miss out on much more than just marshmallows. In brief, saving money is an imperative habit and skill that everyone should try to master so that they can lead to being financially stable, debt-free, and overall a lot happier.

If one were to start investing just 15% of their annual income in stocks, assuming they start in their early 20’s, they could generate millions of dollars by the age of 50. With the power of compounding and a lot of patience, one can create wealth over time. However, in order to invest one must first learn how to save money. The ability to save money, although simple, is a difficult skill to acquire and is one of the most essential skills to becoming financially successful. Saving is a very straightforward concept yet many struggle and end up spending most of their income on dining out, buying fancy cars, and things of that nature. As important as these things are, there should be a balance between your needs and your wants. It is very similar to the Stanford marshmallow experiment where kids were given the choice between eating a marshmallow immediately or waiting 15 minutes and receiving two marshmallows. The vast majority of kids chose to eat the marshmallow immediately instead of delaying their gratification and receiving a larger reward. Many people also choose immediate gratification and miss out on much more than just marshmallows. In brief, saving money is an imperative habit and skill that everyone should try to master so that they can lead to being financially stable, debt-free, and overall a lot happier.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are on your way to Rome to meet Emperor Augustus to discuss the fate of the Hellenic Army waiting outside the walls of the city. Such a scene can be difficult to imagine with just your mind. Luckily, you don't have to. There are hundreds of books that can recreate that very scene and other scenes like it, hence the reason I love reading. With some books and the power of imagination, I can leave my world and enter into someone else’s. Not only can I experience the inner thoughts of characters, I can also see from their point of view. For example, I can experience the antagonist's thoughts as he justifies his “evil” deeds and hearing such thoughts can lead to philosophizing about the true meanings of good and evil. Such things cannot be accomplished by television, or anything else for that matter. Seeing from a different perspective also gives me insight into my own life. As entertaining as reading is, it holds a lot of truths about myself and humans in general within the characters, allowing me to draw parallels to my life and reflect on the narrative. In addition, reading about the conflicts and problems of different characters put my own problems into perspective. When I am over-stressing about work or school, it helps to think about how small my own hardships are compared to the problems that characters I read about have to go through. Even though those problems are sometimes made up, having a frame of reference to reorient my outlook makes my life a little less stressful and somewhat more interesting. In brief, reading is a treasured pastime of mine that is not only entertaining but also allows me to learn about myself and grow as a person.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are on your way to Rome to meet Emperor Augustus to discuss the fate of the Hellenic Army waiting outside the walls of the city. Such a scene can be a little difficult to imagine in just your mind. Luckily, you don't have to. There are hundreds of books that can recreate that very scene and scenes like it in your mind, hence the reason for my love for reading. With some books and the power of imagination, I can leave my own world and enter into someone else’s. Not only can I experience the inner thoughts of characters, I can also see from their point of view. For example, I can experience the antagonist's thoughts as he justifies his reasons to commit “evil” deeds, and hearing such thoughts can lead to philosophizing about the true meanings of good and evil. Such things cannot be accomplished by television, or anything else for that matter. Seeing from a different perspective also gives me insight into my own life. As entertaining as reading is, it holds a lot of truths about myself and humans in general within the characters, allowing me to draw parallels to my life and reflect on the narrative. In addition, reading about the conflicts and problems of different characters put my own problems into perspective. When I am over-stressing about school, work, or life in general, it helps to think about how small my own hardships are compared to the problems that characters I read about have to go through. Even though those problems are sometimes made up, having a frame of reference to reorient my outlook makes my life a little less stressful and somewhat more interesting. In brief, reading is a treasured pastime of mine that is not only entertaining but also allows me to learn about myself and grow as a person.

In this day and age, with social media giving rise to unrealistic expectations, many people are becoming increasingly more insecure about themselves and are spending too much time stressing about what other people think. Although it is natural to worry about what others think of you, it can sometimes become a little extreme. It was until recently that I saw a simple phrase by a random stranger on the internet that helped me understand how to stop worrying about what other people thought of me: "You are not the main character in other people's lives". At first glance, this phrase might not seem like much but every time I start dwelling on how others are judging me, I remind myself that I am not the main character in those people's lives and that they have their own problems and worries to think about. They too, are most likely worrying about what others are thinking of them, much less spending time on judging you. Over the years, I've realized that spending so much time and energy stressing about what others think of you only leads to anxiety and unhappiness. In brief, the wisest thing someone ever told me was that you should stop caring about what others think of you because they probably have bigger things to think about than you.

Album: Say Your Goodbyes College Is rough. It involves grueling hours and long sleepless nights. Yet, it is an important part of one's life as it is a period that allows one to transition into an adult and say goodbye to Childhood. Songs: 1. "Good Times" by Chic 2. "Going Gets Tough" By The Growlers 3. "Young, Wild & Free" By Snoop Dogg, et al. 4. "Back when" By Tim Mcgraw 5. "Fade Away" By Oasis 6. "Changes" By Butterfly Boucher Artist: Dr.eamz

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” - Muhammad Ali As a child, I was always finding different ways to help out in our local community, whether it was distributing essentials to the needy or preparing for community Iftars during the month of Ramadan. My family and I have always been very active in our community, constantly trying to find ways to help out people in need. We have been fortunate enough to have the ability to help out the fellow human beings that we share this small world with and have grown to be better people because of it. As I grew older I began to question how my meager efforts would do anything to make an impact in this world, but over the years I've realized that no matter how big or small my efforts, I was still making a difference. I realized that, even if I couldn't see it, the smallest of efforts would have huge impacts over time. Yet, after years of working with people from different ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds, I realized something even more important: I realized that the world is small but its problems are big. With Wars in the Middle East, famine in parts of Africa, and the oppression of tyrannical governments upon its people, there are so many people around the world that are struggling yet their perspectives and stories are quashed by the media to be replaced by the perspective of an onlooker rather than the victim. And so with my degree in Business Management, I plan to pursue a career in hospitality, where I can travel the world, meet different people, understand their perspectives, and bring awareness to the many problems in our shared world. There are a multitude of ways through which I would like to continue volunteering and serving others throughout my career but as I stated previously, bringing awareness to the struggles and perspectives of others is my main objective. What I mean when I say the "perspectives of others" is how others view life and the world around them. For example, I, being a Pakistani American, have had my foot in both worlds. Although I was born and grew up in America, I was taught two different perspectives: One through my peers, teachers, and friends; the other, from my Pakistani Parents. I was taught values from people with different backgrounds and it gave me the ability to perceive and interact with the world in multiple different ways. Through my travels around the world, I would like to bring awareness to these perspectives, whether it is through an unbiased media source or just pure networking. Spreading the word about the struggles people all over the world have to go through and doing something to change that is a noble cause and I would like to pursue that throughout my career. All and all, what's most important is trying our best. Although my experience working and volunteering for non-profits has never been world-changing, I still do my part knowing that even if what I'm doing is not going to change the world, it'll be a step in the right direction. In brief, I do it because it's “the rent [I] pay for [my] room here on Earth” (Ali 9).