Date: October 3, 2015.

Time: 10:26PM PST

Status: Unable to sleep, so I write.

I am very pleased to find that I have less than 50 images left in this project. If you’ve been following along since the beginning (2013), you’ll know that this has been a long journey. Granted, a lot of it was pre-written before hand (as early as 2008); but shooting it, curating it, and rolling it out as been an emotionally arduous process. And today, to find myself so close to end, I feel relieved.

These are chapters that need a close – a book that needs to be returned to the shelf. The past is an easy place to visit. A carefree stroll down memory lane is intoxicating because your mind has already eradicated all the bad memories that have once littered the sidewalks of these streets. But that is not the whole truth nor is it the honest truth. It’s a fabrication composed by the thread and needle of time. 

It’s easy to let the what-if’s and the the would-have-been’s haunt you, but don’t. Because if you’re too busy being blinded by that, you’ll never see the what-will-be. There is no doubt that your past makes you who you are, but it does not dictate who you will be. I have no regrets because I’ve written them all and tossed them to the wind. My past may have defined this project, it may have defined my work, but it does not define me.

One day you’re 6 and you’re both on a swing set. The next day you’re 26 and you’re on a last-minute flight to Vegas to watch your best friend marry the love of her life. 

via iphone. 

Photos by David Hajoo Choi

In honor of my 26th birthday, here are ten things I’ve learned by the time I passed the quarter century mark.

1 - A lot of people will tell you NO. My high school art teacher told me I wasn’t going to go anywhere (I don’t think she liked me very much). When I told my mother I was going to forgo being a lawyer to be an artist, she shook her head. The first proper photography course I ever took told me not to square crop my photos. My point is – there will be a lot of NO’s and a lot of people who will tell you, you can’t. It’s up to you whether or not they’re right. Go ahead, prove them wrong.

2 - The things that make you uncomfortable – the things that push you out of your comfort zones, will be the things that help you grow. When I was 18, I tore out of my parents’ house like I had something to prove. I did. I still do.

3 - Your first love might not be your last. If you’re lucky like my best friend – you’ll meet your soulmate at 16 and you’ll be set. If you’re me, you’re still trying to figure things out. And that’s okay.

4 - Failure does not define you. It doesn’t matter that you fell. It matters whether or not you’re willing to come back swinging. FUN FACT: I failed math in high school. There’s a nice, beautiful D sitting on my report card if anyone would ever bother to dig that up. 

5 - Art is not a luxury. To an artist, it is a necessity. It’s as vital as the air we breathe and the food we eat. It may not nourish our bodies, but it nourishes our souls.

6 - The only thing you should chase are vodka and dreams.

7 - You should see the world. I mean, really see it. Forgo the five-star hotels and the guided tours. Be a lone traveler. Carry only what you need. Spend nights making new friends in new cities. When I was 20, I left for Paris with a small suitcase. I slept in airports, on parks benches, in run-down hostels that looked like new horror movie sets, and would go days eating only bread because I was so broke. But I was pretty happy.

8 - Take a risk. Dive headfirst into something if it makes you feel anything. Whether it’s a new hobby, a new adventure, or a new love. When I was 21, I moved in with someone I was dating only a few months after we had met. Maybe I was young, maybe I was foolish. Probably both. But in hindsight, I’ve never regretted it. Forget the naysayers. Do what you want.

9 - Be the bigger person. It’s taken me a long time to come to this point and on some days I still struggle, but this has been vital to my peace of mind. You cannot hold yourself responsible for the actions of other people, but you are held responsible for your own actions. You can choose to hold grudges, you can choose to be angry, or you can choose to forgive. You can choose to move on.

10 - Hard work trumps talent if talent doesn’t work. I’ve been incredibly lucky my entire life and I used to coast by on that. But the older I get, the more I press myself to the grind, the more results I see. And suddenly this statement has never been clearer.  

So goodbye 25. And here’s to year 26!