It’s funny how sometimes when you’re in a certain point in your life the universe gives you food for thought, signs you never thought you needed, things that perfectly fit your current situation; be it a song, a story, an article, or a random unexpected event that changes your day. It’s reminiscent, in a way, of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, that the universe will conspire to help you get what you want. But rather than helping you achieve something you desire, the universe helps you see what you really want, guiding you to see your path.
So here I am—in a certain point of my life, people might call it a quarter-life crisis (though I’m barely 25, I’m only in my early 20s for crying out loud)—asking myself what career path I want to take, What I want myself to do for the rest of my life. The answer to that question is unclear—being someone who wants to achieve many things, not wanting to be a one trick pony but a renaissance man of sorts—it’s hard to answer a question that might as well dictate your future. I know I’m not the only one suffering this existential dilemma. Many from my generation, the Millennials, ask themselves the very questions I ask myself. We’re just that sort of generation I suppose. Google Generation Y and job hunting and you’ll find that many Millennials jump jobs, and as the world economy welcomes more and more of us, it’s becoming a trend. The thing is I think we already know the answer to that “existential question”, we know what we want we just don’t want to accept it. We don’t want to make a final decision. If only we could delegate the decision making to someone else our lives would probably be easier. Or maybe that’s just me?
But then again, whatever it is we want to do with our lives, what we really want to do, doing it is not as easy as counting 123. If we really want to do what we want, we’d have to take risks. We’d have to jump bottomless pits and climb sheer cliffs, everything without safety nets and other life saving gear. What we do with our lives, we do it on our own. Scary does not even define or fully encapsulate the plethora of emotions we feel when contemplating these risks. And that’s not all we think about, despite acting by ourselves we continue to reach out to others, family and friends, for encouragement and support thinking that they can help us help ourselves get over our doubts and make our own decisions. Wouldn’t that be dandy if they did? Fine, let’s accept the fact that we have to make our own life decisions and that’s a heavy burden on its own but the invaluable love and support that our friends and family can give us makes everything a little lighter. But not everyone gets that, not everyone receives enough support to follow their dreams and take the leap. Gathering people and building a support system for yourself is not as easy as it sounds and sometimes the very people you need and want support from don’t give it to you.
So where do you go? What do you do when you’re all alone in a crossroad not knowing where which one of the paths you could take lies despair, failure, and disappointment, or success, happiness, and fulfillment? This endless vision of uncertainty daunts most if not all of us and cripples many if not most of us. Few can say they are truly happy to be where they are, some are thriving, others, still striving. But those who’ve been paralyzed by fear flow like dead fish in a river current. So what do you do? Take the risk? “You’ll never know until you try”, these are the words that probably irk us more than it should as our brains run back and forth deciding between a fight or flight reaction.
This is where the universe, God, destiny, or whatever you want to call it enters. Remember what I said about the universe lighting your path, leading you to where you’re supposed to be, your calling? I’d like to think that though it’s still a theory, there is some truth in it. You don’t just stumble upon a passion, you can say that you did but that’s not what really happened. You can quote Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code saying “the mind sees what it wants to see” (or does this specific line only appear in the movie? I don’t really remember) to justify that the only reason you “see” a specific sign is because that’s what you want to perceive it as, but there’s a reason why you “see” it. There’s a reason why you feel that this is the path you want to take despite the uncertainty. The people you meet and support you wouldn’t be encouraging you if they didn’t see something special in you. Through these people and the countless signs you’ve seen, the universe is telling you: “take a leap of faith”. This is when you trust in something higher than yourself to catch you as you jump that bottomless pit, climb that sheer cliff and take you across and above it. That’s what it means to have faith. Sure, easier said than done, but hey, that’s something to go on. A leap of faith is something that I think is so liberating it’s as if that’s when you are only truly free from all the bonds that society has you under.
As for me, I have yet to take this leap of faith, I don’t think I’m ready. But then again you’ll never be ready. I suppose I’m just waiting, enduring a path I know I don’t want to be in to learn more about myself and the world and gain invaluable life experiences and lessons that would prepare me to be better equipped when I do take that leap, just like many other Gen Y’ers. But when I do, when we do, boy wouldn’t that be awesome.
thelonelioncub 