Time goes by. Inevitably. Irrevocably. Indubitably. It ticks away towards the future…

There are very few unquestionable truths in life. For instance, we can without a shadow of a doubt count on the fact that our reality exists with a meagerly allotted number of breaths and experiences. Moreover, by unrelentingly adding insult to injury, our mistakes and our doubts haunt us hindering any successes from molding our own future. Our path seems cloudy and dark, so we squint to narrow our vision searching for any glimmer of light. We hope for a beacon that might fire up some sort of passion and jump-start any existential engine within. Until, before you know it, you’ve settled into a routine; knee-deep in complacency. Time waits for no one.

Were it so easy! Not on my watch. (Yes, I put you through all that just to make a point!) Simply put, these are the temporary trials that teach us to prevail and discover reason and purpose and inspiration and destiny. In an excerpt from In a Dark Time, American poet, Theodore Roethke, realizes Time’s dark influence on him and confronts it, writing the following:

“Dark,  dark  my   light,   and   darker   my  desire.

 My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,

 Keeps   buzzing   at   the    sill.    Which   I   is   I?

 A   fallen    man,    I    climb    out    of    my   fear.

 The  mind   enters   itself,   and   God  the  mind,

 And  one   is   One,   free   in   the   tearing  wind.“

I faintly remember the dignity that overwhelmed me as the realization of reaching the furthest goal I had ever set for myself struck me. The pride inside me–blissfully unaware of its blinding effects–blanketed my being like a superpower. The future was mine, and I was invincible. Well, it’s been a year now. Time took its toll. The moments passed, and the fire flickered out. With no more superpowers, I found myself struggling to break out. Exactly one year ago, my ego and naivety set me on a course of foolish ignorance. Assuming life would be so kind as to drop a perfect career into my lap; I had no idea what lied ahead.

“I’ll find something soon,” I told myself. “Everything has always come so easily before.”

Well a long time ago, someone told me that once you hit rock bottom, the only direction left to go is up. Now, most of you have heard my story before. I won’t bore you with the grim details. I drafted a plan. Set it in motion. Now, following the light to the end of the tunnel and letting nature run its course (see what I did there), I am finally reunited with hard-earned gratification and fulfillment.
On January 26, 2017, I officially became a certified Microsoft Professional. Adding another piece of paper promising to push me forward in life to this Batman-like utility belt of academic achievements, I have the past’s failures on my side this time. Although a familiar feeling of accomplishment literally sprang out (I jumped out of my chair upon seeing the passing score) of me, time has taught me to want more. Look further. So! Fine-tuning my scopes and honing my eyesight, I am fast on fate’s tail. I will not trip over the same rock twice, for I now know what it takes to attain the future I desire.