Always looking forward and never looking back that is how many people live. Focused only on the future whether it be savings, education, family, their focus is what is next rather than what has past.
Viewing the lives of my middle & high school students I wonder what kind of adults they will turn out to be ten years from now. All high-achievers I already can see the doctors, businessmen/women, professors, teachers, and maybe even politicians. I see so many of them succeeding in their career pursuits as they work their way through middle & high school and college. But, then I re-think how much can happen in ten years.
When looking in the mirror on my closet door I see a young woman full of aspiring dreams. She is petite, she has a glaring poised stare, she looks like a delicate flower. This young woman is me. This young woman was me. Looking in the mirror on my closest door ten years later and time feels like it has been standing still. The young woman has no aging marks, the young woman has no weary thoughts, the young woman maintains a glaring poised stare. “Where has this woman been? What has this woman done?” These are the questions this young woman receives from her current students.
Her response to them is this: “This young woman had a dream in high school to learn, see, and explore something new. She followed her dreams and moved away after graduating. This young woman was shy, innocent, but determined. Overcoming setbacks and bumps along the way this young woman entered adulthood through her first corporate experience. Learning from her seniors this young woman followed the footsteps of her admired predecessors hoping to become an influencer like them. But, no two people who walk along the same path achieve the same success. This young woman discovered this in graduate school. Already oceans away from home.”
Learning, seeing, exploring. The young woman experienced all that she dreamed of during those ten years. Yet her dreams did not end then. Instead they grew. During those years of pursuing life-changing dreams the young woman gained confidence to pursue more. Looking at herself in the mirror this young woman sees the young woman she saw all those years ago. Almost like time is standing still on the surface level this young woman may have no visible aging marks, but has aged in her years, this young woman may have no weary thoughts, but has many open-ended views, this young woman may still maintain a glaring poised stare, but with less sparkle in her eyes.
“Always look forward to many positive things that await you in the future.” That is the advice that I tell my middle & high school students. I say to them “…look forward to what awaits you, rather than what has past because time does not stay still for no one.” Ten years later from my own time in high school and I am walking along my own-made path; and like those before me I want to become an influencer to those who follow after.
Ten years from now I hope to remember myself now as clearly as I remember my younger self ten years ago. Ten years from now I hope that my continued years of pursuing life-changing dreams provide me with courage to pursue more. Lastly, ten years from now I hope that the young woman(*I see in the mirror) now a madam inspires others to look back at who they once were, who they are now, and how much they have grown in turn giving them a chance to look backwards at their lives while looking forward toward their future.
yeppunshikan 