Thomas is an NYC-based designer living in Brooklyn.

He writes, codes, designs a lot of different things, and loves taking photos + videos.

He's got the best friends and family supporting him through this journey, and he's always looking to meet new fabulous people to talk to. So!

If you'd like, you can say hello at me@thomasbyung.kim

Impossibility

February 12, 2019

Growing up, I wanted to be an NFL quarterback. Afterall, thats what I knew I loved, and something I felt entirely natural about working hard at. I saw drastic improvements as I practiced, watched film, and played each game. Athletics is interesting, because its one of the few, if not the only, profession that you win or lose, every time you play. There is no inbetween (yes, there are draws, however sports fans and analysts could probably endlessly criticize who actually won the game when delving into deep statistics and replays). Therefore, athletes get incredibly solid feedback on their performance, particularly also because there are so many statistics, footage, and other teammates playing right next to you who keep you on your toes.

As I grew older, I realized that sometimes there are limitations beyond my control, such as physicality. There were kids twice my size at the same age, and had an unbelievable advantage that they didn’t even need to work for sometimes. I faced racial discrimination, as an Asian that was playing football - still unheard of to this day. However all of this was fuel to me, as I could imagine all the naysayers’ faces as I proved each one of them wrong. I eventually gave up on this endeavor of playing football in the NFL. I realized something.

The idea of being able to have an idea inside my head, and turn it into real life as a product, a building, a piece of technology was boundlessly interesting to me as I was introduced to the world of architecture and design. Even more so - I realized that the most successful businessmen or leaders of industries also looked like regular people that I know, not massive, tall and muscular like all the athletes I grew up admiring (and still admire). I suddenly felt this intense drive deep inside me that anything is really possible when I have the idea and drive to execute on that idea. I was always good at managing, whether that was a football team, a group project, or an art installation full of team members. The people that felt like telling me I couldn’t, I felt bad for because I knew that they never felt this way. Theoretically speaking, there is nothing that is impossible within the bounds of imagination. There are things like, walking to all four corners of the earth that seems like something nobody would do because its simply undesirable - but you have the tools to do this; your two legs. That is all you need.

Most of the things people call impossible is because they glance at the entire mountain and deem it unattainable. I get it, its hard to think of each footstep that might come to summit the peak. However, when you can keep your head down and take each step with precision and care, the summit can inevitably only get closer.



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