when seeking progress
let speed be secondary
to a good compass

I’m not always the most focused person in the world, but I manage somehow. I think it’s ironic that my lack of focus is, for the most part, the reason I’ve learned to capsulize ideas in the briefest possible terms.

Making an unbridled thought resemble a haiku gives me the same satisfaction as solving a Sudoku, a cryptogram or any other challenging puzzle. When I think of it, these haiku exercises are really just another sort of word puzzle. And when I think of how hard it was for me to learn to use words at all, I feel incredibly blessed to be able to put these brief word strings together in a way that makes sense.

As someone diagnosed with ADD well after my formative years, it took me a long time to understand how to best function. It took me almost as long to realize the difficulties I’ve battled since childhood could be managed at all.

Getting help sooner would have spared me many detours, academically, professionally and personally, but I’ve found even the most circuitous routes have redeeming qualities. For me, most of this detour’s redemption has come in the form of great people I’ve met along the way. Too many to give proper credit here, and too many profoundly amazing people to believe I would have met half of them traveling a more concise route.

All of which may fly in the face of today’s haiku, except to admit that only with the help of those I’ve encountered along the way would I have had a chance to correct my course before it was too late. If you imagine you’re such a person, you most likely are. Even if you’re too modest to take credit for it, if you’re reading this, you probably still are.

Thank you.