You've got to wonder that sometimes, don't you?
Am I where I am supposed to be for where I am in my life right now?
Am I hitting the marks for my age? My demographic, in all shapes and sizes it comes? My potential? My family? My friends? My life choices?
Because it feels like that, doesn't it? Everyone else seems to be hitting certain marks for this point in their life. Everyone has a certain job and are using it to fund their life endeavors, their schooling, whatever it is they choose to do. They know the field in which they are progressing, the plans that they have for themselves as the future is upon them. They are possessed of a certain amount of wealth, a certain amount of charm, a certain amount of friends, a certain amount of achievements.
In a similar fashion, everyone seems to be faced with the same obstacles. The difference between me and them is that they seem to have those obstacles under control. No matter how difficult things may appear to be, from the outside looking in, it always seems like everyone is managing just fine. They seem to live by the slogans, "No pain, no gain," "This will build character," and so on and so forth. Everyone seems to know exactly what they will do with the skill set they have. They also seem to know, down to the last percentage point, what those skills even are. They seem to have it all figured out.
And as you probably could have guessed would be my point, everyone is fooling you and no one has anything figured out at all.
The fact that life sometimes feels like items on a to-do list, all lined up in a row, is no coincidence or oddity. That is how the world around us portrays the life we live - that it is a pinch of this education, a dash of this occupation, and just a touch of honed personal skill to lead a successful life.
I say it is no oddity, and I mean it. But what I also mean is that it is no truth either.
My life, your life, all our lives are unique. No life is meant to be lived in cookie-cutter fashion, with a dash and a pinch and this or that. Just because the opportunity appears doesn't mean we shouldn't work our hardest for it. Just because we work hard, doesn't mean we are bound to get what we desire. Life is beautifully unpredictable, and it holds more for all of us that we could ever know. Or agree with!
To truly hit the marks for our own lives, we must live them as honestly and as genuinely as we possibly can. We must not allow ourselves to be ruled by the thought of what could have been. What might have been.
We cannot sit back and wonder at what our lives may be. We must live them. Live them to the fullest.
