Take a Step Back
I have seen the stress that we put on ourselves and others throughout my short life of eighteen years. Every day we have to accomplish one thing after the next, the world relentlessly after us without being able to take a break. However, I am here to say that a continuous routine should not define the life you live. Hold on, you might think, isn’t it good to be organized and orderly about what you do? Yes, but every so often, we must realize that you can’t always be looking at the next step ahead to enjoy life. As I learned very recently during my time of stress during college applications, life is a journey, not a destination. This has been told to me many times. Due to me always being the one talking about what the future will hold once I do this or once I do that. I soon began to realize that I will never feel meaning if I continued to live this way.
Earth has existed for over 4.6 billion years, with the universe almost three times as long. To you and me, that length is unfathomable, with our average life being seventy-eight years, we are simply a blip in time. I began to understand now what that phrase means. You should not try and live life thinking there is an end because there will never be one. Instead, take a different approach, see that the world we live in has so much to learn from it that you will miss out on everything if you only think about the next thing. For me, my way to excuse myself from the world around me became music, the genre lofi hip hop. I started to use it as my personal getaway. Whenever life became too much, or I wanted to give myself time, I would turn it on and sit back. Doing this helped me get a deeper meaning about myself and the world.
Furthermore, I began to rediscover my love for art. For someone who is a very analytical thinker, this may seem odd. Art helps me do what music does, relax. While life gets stressful, you have to look at the things in life that you thought would never appeal to you. For me, that was art and music, but it could be anything. It may seem like you will be wasting your time or not being productive, but there is a value that comes from letting the mind rest.
For everyone out there, I encourage you to take a step back in life as I did. Explore what the world has to offer you, seek out what you want to learn, even if it is something you thought you would never enjoy. As Steve Jobs said, “the last few years have reminded me that life is fragile.” With that, I leave you to discover your own passion.
