I’ve closed down my previous blog, Phrankenlife. It’s time to leave behind that chapter of my life and start a new one. The content of the blog is intact because I would like to go back once in a while and be reminded of who I was.
Come June, I will turn 27.
The turning of my 3rd decade of life is discreetly sneaking up on me.
Among other things, my goal this year is making connections. For the past 4-5 years, my social/professional network had been limited to the people I work & live with. That’s cool, but I have started to wonder what else is out there for me to discover, where is the limit of my horizon?
I am mostly thankful to my best friend, Hamizah, for being my rock these few years. When I don’t have the guts to try something new, I can always scrape some courage from the bottom of my soul because I am fairly convinced she got my back, and it works both ways. I have the opportunity to do many interesting things this past year because of my connection to her.
The most important people I have met these past 6 months are the aggressive visionaries. You know what I mean, the dreamers who actually make things happen for themselves or other people. I have always been a dreamer, but also, always lacking the drive. Actually meeting the people who are making their dreams a reality, speaking to them in person, sets fire to my soul. I realised most of my dreams are not that out of reach after all.
Connections are everything, really. When your network is limited, so are your opportunities. There’s only so much you can learn/acquire from Google. It’s the people who have real experience that can give structure to your vision. Let’s say, you want to have a studio of your own – a creative space which can inspire your expression. You can Google on how to do it, OR I would suggest you go out there and meet people who actually made it happen. From the location and layout of their studios, and of course the acquaintanceship, you can better visualise the conception of your own studio, and perhaps given the right channels to do it.
In addition to that, over conversations, you can learn the personal traits that push them forward, and hopefully it will rub off on you too. It’s hard to not be excited by someone who can describe to you in vivid details what he/she’s planning to achieve in the next 5 years.
About a month ago, I had a conversation with a 19-year-old who owns a café. We spoke about the conception of his café and the direction it’s taking. He told me he plans to retire by the age of 22. Kids and their crazy ambitions, you might think, but so far, he has a pretty good track record on making his vision a reality. When I was 19, I was busy trying to not fail a semester in college. I would say I had no big achievement I’m really proud of until I was 21, so this kid is fairly ahead of me. He speaks animatedly, with (still) hints of youthfulness in his speech, but he’s firm about travelling the route he chose to embark on in his life. That fearlessness can be easily mistaken as juvenile, but losing that as we grow older is among the reasons that most of us are stuck in ruts. Yes, our priorities change as we grow older, but the advantage of growing older is that we have enough wisdom to calculate the risks we take. We learn from the years we gained which battle is worth fighting for and what kind of ammunition we need.
About a month ago, I had a conversation with a 19-year-old who owns a café. We spoke about the conception of his café and the direction it’s taking. He told me he plans to retire by the age of 22. Kids and their crazy ambitions, you might think, but so far, he has a pretty good track record on making his vision a reality. When I was 19, I was busy trying to not fail a semester in college. I would say I had no big achievement I’m really proud of until I was 21, so this kid is fairly ahead of me. He speaks animatedly, with (still) hints of youthfulness in his speech, but he’s firm about travelling the route he chose to embark on in his life. That fearlessness can be easily mistaken as juvenile, but losing that as we grow older is among the reasons that most of us are stuck in ruts. Yes, our priorities change as we grow older, but the advantage of growing older is that we have enough wisdom to calculate the risks we take. We learn from the years we gained which battle is worth fighting for and what kind of ammunition we need.
So the next time you have the chance to be acquainted to someone you have never met before, don’t think too much into it and just do it. Of course, as I had explained earlier, take calculated risks. I am not encouraging you to meet a creeper you only spoke to once on Internet, by yourself, in a place you’re not familiar with. Meet this person for coffee, lunch or dinner, at a populated rendezvous, and bring a friend. Have a conversation over things you have in common, or new things that one of you have not personally experienced. Laugh together, experience a new activity together. We are all human beings after all. Who knows what the next big thing that can happen to the both of you as a result of the acquaintanceship?
And no, not every human connection formed on the face of Earth has to be romantic, if that’s what you’re afraid of, although I wonder what everyone is afraid of in loving a little of everybody.
On the subject of love, let’s talk about that in another new essay altogether.
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