by James Richardson

Created on: July 29, 2010   Last Updated: August 09, 2010

Eleanor Roosevelt long ago spoke these timeless words:  “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.”  Such a phrase couldn’t better sum up the journey I have experienced, and the character it has built, over the past four years. 

Let the sands of time slip back to the year 2006.  My junior year of college was winding down.  It had been a remarkable year of academic growth, learning, and achievements.  Unfortunately, such high points were obscured by the difficulties experienced at the hands of a frustrating and occasionally abusive roommate. 

It’s funny, however, that sometimes the worst of experiences often shape us into better individuals for the future.  Throughout my high school and college years I had battled an addiction.  While not life threatening, mine was an addiction that seriously compromised my personal, spiritual, and character growth.  Something about the abusive living situation that junior year led me to overcome my addiction for good.  To this day, every April 15 (the date I’ve given to my personal victory), I mark off another year of being free from my former struggles.  Odd as it seems, my challenging roommate that year birthed this recovery within me. 

Out with the old and in with the new...And what happens if there is no new?  Surely a void may be left.  As my old ways passed, gratefully, I found new ways to fill the voids in my life.  As a communications major, I was in a course of study where creativity is tantamount.  I’d always been a creative person.  As a child, I spent endless hours drawing, constructing towns with my Legos(R), and making up stories.  Such a right-brain inclination made me a natural fit for the communications major.  The Christmas prior I received a digital camera, and as my “new” self began to evolve, photography grew into a creative pastime and hobby.  Digital photography led to digital photo editing and graphic design.  With photography also came hiking and a new appreciation for God’s creative handiwork in nature. 

I also filled gaps in my life with a new admiration for food.  While I’m still learning to cook, I discovered my refined palette and found a new enjoyment in trying the ethnic, unusual, and original when it comes to food.  Not only that, but I took interest

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