It’s 1 am and I’m up on my bed, sleep has disappeared from my eyes again. This is the third time in a row that I’m up at midnight and can’t seem to go back to sleep. I started having flashbacks of my life as a kid, the first memory that came to my mind was an exciting one, it was when my mum got me a bicycle as a surprise gift. She had just returned from a long journey and I was at home helping my sister pound pepper for the rice she was cooking, that used to be my job description in the kitchen.
I heard my name “Mira” a short form for Miracle, the name they call me at home, I came out and lo and behold a brand-new bicycle, the joy I felt that day was something I had never felt before. Dmmm dmmmm, a notification on my phone interrupts my throwback fantasy. I miss those days when most of my worries were not money-related. It seems like being an adult is spelled “RESPONSIBILITY” and that has been a wavy sail. Two attributes I believe are invaluable to being a successful adult are endurance and discipline.
As an adult you no longer have people telling you what time to come home, how much to spend, what company to keep, and where not to go, you become your sole instructor and the test as to whether you’re doing well or not is life itself, your results come in the form of who you’re becoming. Endurance, how many blows can you take without giving up? Except you’re having a smooth ride, you’ll have to build your capacity to take some disappointments, defeats, and heartbreaks without being broken, you’ll have to find a way to motivate yourself again and again after every setback because they will come. Sometimes the burden of adulthood makes us nostalgic for childhood’s simpler times, but we’ll never recapture the wonder of that place, now that adulthood has claimed us. So, I’ve made peace with reality and if you ask me how I am doing right now, my response will be “I am growing up” …………