November 19, 2012

The IF Question

i learnt (to use) a new word today, an interesting encountership with the word fervent which; in other words means intensely passionate (i couldn’t choose which word to italic solo; they both have to be).

i believe that the only way one can always be happy, is to do what makes them happy – what they are fervent about, passionate about. Otherwise, really, what becomes the point of living? Of course sometimes we have to do things we don’t like in order to get where we want to be (not every thing is hot, burns your fuel, or glows with inspiration), but it is utterly important that you ask yourself this question:

If there was NO limitation, what would i love to do, where would i like to be?

i’ve asked this question to many people young and old. After a 5 seconds pause (when you’d be ascertain that they were musing about it), most answers surprisingly turn out to be:

i don’t know . . . i’ve never thought about it.

What happened 5 seconds ago? The best comeback yet was:

“Why even think about an IF question? It’s not like i could ever get there.” After much perseverance, he added “Fine, i want to be like <insert favorite soccer star name>. Can i do that? See, what’s the POINT?”

The POINT is, to know what you want (and that does NOT include being Michael Jackson or the next Donald Trump because remember: you are living in a practical world). IF one can not see the fundamental core of importance in recognizing their own dreams, how can they ever get there? Of course you’ll need the right tools, support, discipline, bla bla bla; i’m not even going there because there are thousands of self-help books at Borders to teach you how, but i (personally) think that they are just as dispensable as they are dysfunctional, if you don’t want “it” enough. If you’d never want to start. So i say:

The first step is to RECOGNIZE. Second is to START. Third comes STRONG WILL.

You are the FOCUS, while FAITH is your best friend.

That is the least you can do or you’d really owe your life, a life. The last thing you want is to look back when you’re 30 and missing 20. Or worse, 40 missing 30 AND 20. Life is almost ephemeral and delicate, because you only have 1 shot at it. It is almost like someone saying to you “Hey buddy, you have one damn shot at arching this arrow. IF you hit THE spot, you win 10 million dollars!” Just because life feels like a long stretch of lottery game, we tend to think that we have 100 shots to try when truth is, we only have 1 arrow to aim.

i know friends who mask their daily frustration with the one-eye-closed kinda love. Colleagues who rely on their lovers to ‘escape’ after-6 p.m. kinda life. i myself, read to remember, dance to forget. There is no right way to live, neither is there a wrong way fit to be judged. People live the way they want to live. At the end of the day, right or wrong is not the question as long as the answer is “i am happy”. But as i am passing the mid-20’s check point, my (birthday) wish this year is to stop painting a facade of dreams, but to bring them to life and make them concrete. Therefore, i want to say this to you:

If you don’t have something, create it. If you don’t have the tools, use your imagination. If you don’t have dreams, change your reality.

You We may as well start now. Happy 26th Birthday, Cindy.