It's only one month before my birthday and I feel the stress already of having another digit added to my age. Come July 16, I will be officially 26 years old! 0_0
OH MY GOD!
26! I AM TURNING TWENTY-SIX!
I never realized this aging process could happen so fast.
Backtrack 10-15 years ago, I always say to myself that I wanted to grow up fast and get out of school because when I get out of school and be in my 20's already, I'll already have a job. When I get older, I can already buy the things that I want. When I get older, I can already go to places where I have never been to yet.
Flash forward to 10 years after, it seems that almost all of the things that I thought would happen actually happened.
Now that the 1st quarter of my life has already passed, I cannot help but ask myself, "What have you done significantly in the 25 years of your existence?"
Uhmmm... Get out of school? Have a decent job? Help send money back home? Help send my siblings to school? Travel to places that I have never been to yet? Buy the things that I want?
Probably, these can be valid answers to my question. However as I age more, I realize that getting old is not easy. It is not what I thought it would be. True enough, I now earn my own money, I now buy what I like, I now can go places. But it does not end there for me.
Somewhere in me, it wishes for me to get older and age more because probably, ten years from now, I can already buy some grand things, travel more frequently outside of the country, help more people and become much wiser. I came to realize that this yearning of mine to get older never stops. I always wanted to reach the next level because for me, years from now, I will be better than I am now. For me, the future is brighter than what it is now.
It is always about what will I be several years from now. The focus is always the then and not the now. I have fixed my stare on the prize set forward without stopping to look at where I am now. Am I running the right track for my prize? Am I on the right race to my future? All I ever care is the goal in front but not where I am currently standing.
As I begin the next quarter of my life, I should come to terms with myself about what I should be doing NOW. I already know the prize that I want that is waiting at the end of the road which is several years from now. What is left for me to do is to sow the seeds that will bear fruit to that prize. I should start doing those little but impactful steps of making those prized goals a reality as I near the finish line. I should begin doing those things that will help me reach the end of the line. I believe that life is a race, but never a competitive race. Some might argue with me. But from my perspective, life is a race to personal happiness and fulfillment. It is a race to greatness in the eyes of your God, of your family, of your friends, of your countrymen and of yourself.
Now, more than ever in my life, is the best way to start making my life complete - a life where I will be fulfilled and satisfied with whatever I do - to help more people/children, reach for financial freedom, join more civic and cause-oriented groups, be more patriotic in my actions, serve my God, family, friends, colleagues, bosses and myself well, and do the things that I have always wanted to do which some might think are ridiculous and crazy. Life is never about the end, it's the journey you make. And as I continue to travail the paved and sometimes uneven track of life, I relish the thought of more smiles, tears, laughters, sorrows, joy and pain that will come along my way. More emotions to make me more alive.
And now that this fresh start is coming soon, I indulge myself in the remaining days of the first quarter of my life and reflect more on the bad, the good and the learnings that I made along the way. These will help guide me in my new journey to a life of greatness and bliss.
