Better Plans

Where you are, is where you're supposed to be

I've been a fan of Facebook's "On This Day" feature which shows our Facebook posts from previous years, ever since we create an account there. They made me sentimental, but at the same time they always bring a smile to my face. Those days when I'm still in Poly, and stuff like that. My thoughts from the previous 6 years are being revisited and they can get very very interesting at times.

Yesterday, 6 years ago, my sister graduated from NUS. And I wrote on Facebook how inspirational her commencement was, and how I wish that I will be one of the graduants in the coming 6 years or so. That would be today. And well 6 years after I wrote that post, I'm back at home! And I am not graduating with a degree from anywhere. This made me feel bittersweet and sentimental.

Ever since young, I've always considered university a place that I have to go, and I want to go. I always picture myself wearing the graduation gown, and putting on the mortarboard on my head. Flinging the mortarboard on top after I graduated. Being a graduate, having a degree. I don't see the degree as a necessity, but the education and experience as a necessity. Since in secondary school, I've learned that I don't come to school to compete but to learn. And how rewarding education is.

But I suppose life happened, and I didn't go to a university. I've always harboured the idea of entering a university ever since I left poly, even though I was, and I am nowhere near a university. I harbour the idea that I may always one day enter a university. But of course life gets the better of me and I know that my chance of entering one is very very low. I'm so busy right now. And there are things I can't leave behind. I can't just leave these things while I pursue my education can I.

Life is a constantly changing journey. Along the journey you will learn things, and come across lessons and thoughts you'll never imagine of crossing paths with. And it's when you do that your whole life might change. Now that I'm back home, handling a business and helping out my parents, it seems like going to a university is no longer something that I have to do. And yes this statement is questionable.

Of course, I cannot say that it is truly not a necessity. I am thankful that I have parents who have found and given me a path, a "container" in which they can put me in so that I can support myself and make a living. If I were to be born in a different life where all of these are impossible, I would fight to death to get myself a university education. Once again, not the degree, but the education and experience.

Perhaps this is how it feels when your dream has turned into nothing else but a memory. My dream of entering a university and graduating from it really feels like a memory. But it's okay. Life is about trusting and putting your faith into the unknown. And about having the faith that better plans are laid ahead of you, even though things don't go according to your plans.

And I'd like to end this post with a quote from Robin Esrock's TedX talk:

"Where you are is where you're supposed to be"