Reflecting on the Restraint of Time

As time becomes something of a restraint later in my life, as it does in many similar lifetimes, I presume that I will look back and study. I imagine I will find all the small times in my life where fate played an important role that are faint to me at this point in time. I know this from speaking to my grandmother who celebrated her 90^th birthday yesterday. Reflection was a large part of our night; she spoke of my grandpa who passed a few years ago and how they were perfectly matched in every way. The story of how they met was astounding and was sewn together with undeniable fate. Thanks to the persistence of my smitten grandpa and undeniable love our family blossomed and became a haven of love for all involved. Having faith in fate is not enough though; you have to possess a strong faith in yourself and your decisions so that fate and freewill can in-fact coexist on a healthy level. Sitting in your room waiting for your fate to ensue will never work because you need to be proactive about achieving your fate, which is what I plan to do for the rest of my life, achieve my fate with faith in myself. The story of my life will be one I can look back on with tears of joy and contentment.

What I Have Come to Learn

When I began looking into what it means to be an adult and if our society forces children to grow up too fast I ended up discovering a lot about my own life and not just those around me. I started off viewing our society negatively, blaming our uncertainty and unhappiness on the mere idea of those around us pressuring us to become something we aren’t. I blamed our abrupt childhood on the thought that society forced us to grow up to fast and had too much influence on us. However, as I come to a conclusion with my work I have discovered just the opposite. Our childhood and when we choose to “grow up” is decided entirely on us. Those we let into our lives and have influence on us are solely our choice. And how we choose to live our lives and plan our future is mirrored off of those we surround ourselves with. I have come to learn that the only way we can be unhappy with our lives and how our futures turn out is if we let negative influences in and allow them to stay.  Being an adult doesn’t mean that you’re unhappy with your life, it means whatever you make it out to be.

Maturity

The word maturity can often be thrown around lightly. People assume that once you reach a certain age you possess the qualities of a mature and rational person. As a culture we expect it from adults and those who have an influence in our society but never from our youth. Children aren’t looked at as having maturity or as being mature, however ever since I was a little kid my mom would tell stories of when I was younger and could handle situations better than what was expected at my age. We don’t consider that children could have the potential to make composed and thought out decisions. The thought of a six year old having more maturity than a father with two kids is almost laughable yet, after collecting my thoughts on the act of growing up I have come to realize just the opposite. Possessing maturity doesn’t require an age stamp and it certainly isn’t automatically given to those at a certain stage in their life. Those who hold maturity know what is right and are able to make the right decisions for themselves and those around them. Maturity is not something that is granted the older you get, but learned from those around you.

Contentment

My last object is not tangible, or able to be seen with the naked eye. It’s a series of stories from insignificant to life changing; I am talking about my experiences living life. I feel fate has not played a huge role in my life yet. Of course things happen to me that I feel are meant to be but I am honestly mostly neutral on most things in my life, knowing that if they were different I would still be okay. I have never fallen madly in love or had my heart torn from my body in one thankless motion, I have never dodged a speeding truck one second before a death riddled collision, I have lived my life knowing that no matter what choices I make it will all turn out alright. Maybe fate has played a role in my life in some smaller ways, maybe my future lover is already close enough to touch and it’s just a matter of time until he makes himself known. That’s the thing about fate; you never know when it will become visible. Its almost like wandering around in a forest looking for a break in the tree line so you feel like you can breathe again. You are lost and then all of a sudden you are found, that’s when you can let contentment fill your mind.

Stations of Life

            Trains are a simple concept. They run continuously, picking up and dropping off passengers as they please. They do not stop for anyone nor do they ask questions. Those who ride on them have the free will to arrive at any destination they desire. Trains in many ways can be related to life. We begin the journey, seeing and learning new things along the way. We have the option to stop and take in what is around us, or to continue on with a further destination in mind. Those who exit few times don’t take advantage of stopping to enjoy life as it is happening. These people allow a future vision to cloud what is occurring around them. As for those who choose to get off and experience life as it is happening are living at their own pace.  These people are embracing life and not racing through it to grow up. When you look at life as a moving train we see how we have full power over how we choose to go through life. We are in control of when we slow down and when it is time to reach a destination. How we choose to carry our lives, or when we choose to get off the train is entirely up to us.