Details

It’s snowing. The snow is mixing with the leaves. The leaves are mixing with the grass. The world is a painting. I’m sitting in the laundry room watching the snowfall from the window. Life is a painting.

Bryson Tiller is playing through my AirPods. A year ago I was working on marketing for Bryson Tiller’s recently released album. I got that opportunity through the Oberlin Junior Practicum program. Seeing how detail-oriented they were about the planning of his career motivated me to become more detail-oriented with my own life. The smallest details are the most beautiful parts of the painting.

Fast forward. I am at the track with my coach watching my running motion on an iPad in slow motion. My posture is good as I have strengthened my core over the past year of training, but I lack dorsiflexion in my foot. I also need to make contact with the ground using more of a downward motion instead of backward. These are the details I need to adjust. The details that will allow me to accomplish my goals in track.

I appreciate my coach's attention to detail while reviewing my running form. I have found this attention to detail exists throughout Oberlin. At Oberlin the professors and people you interact with don’t just see you as another student, they see you as a person, an individual. They see the details that can help you grow and better yourself in all departments. I feel that is one of the most special things about this institution.

A random thought: I wear contacts but sometimes I don’t put them in. Without them in, life is visible but a blur. The moment I put them in I am astounded when I look around Oberlin and see how detailed the leaves are in the trees and the patterns that exist in nature. Life is beautiful. Details are like an exponent to beauty or an exponent to success. Details multiply what you have and make it exponentially more so.