The name of the project was the first thing that came to me when I decided what I was going to do. It’s in reference to the Rolling Stones song You Can’t Always Get What You Want, whose iconic lyric has been sung around my house for as long as I can remember. My dad used to sing it to me when I was little, in reference to just about anything, whether it was a toy I wanted, or a situation I didn’t want to be in. I would always get annoyed when he’d sing it to me, usually because it meant something didn’t go my way, but as I got older, I found myself missing hearing it. Feeling homesick one day, I decided to give it a listen, and I realized I had never heard the next lyric, which is “but if you try sometimes, well, you might find, you get what you need.”

As the end of my education draws to a close, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on my life, so when I decided what I wanted this project to represent, I realized that all the struggles I’d faced in my life and all the obstacles I’d overcome had been necessary for me to be here today. My mom always told me that everything happens for a reason, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to find that’s true. That being said, you don’t always get what you want in life, but if you take a deep breath and take a minute to appreciate what you do have, you really do find that you get what you need.

This project is both inspired and dedicated to my parents, whose strength, reliance, and love taught me that the best way to live life is to see the beauty in everything it provides you with, and to always stay kind.