5 years ago I was a freshman in the University of Indonesia. 5 years ago, if you were to ask me what would have happen in 5 years, I would have said: Gonna live in Boston, making it as a killer musician. If you read my personal Medium post a couple of months ago, you would know this didn’t happen. 5 years later, here I am in Austin, 1 month away from graduating with my Bachelor of Science in Advertising.
Within 1 month, I wouldn’t have to worry about checking canvas for assignments, no classes to attend, no cramming to study for exams, no allowance from my parents, no begging for second chances to a professor, no more living without consequences.
We tend to plan our lives according to what the present moment is like, and through no fault of our own, things would play out differently. It is no secret that change is the constant thing in our lives. And throughout 23 years of my life I will conclude that change is hard! But in order to survive, we need to be able to adapt.
Fear has been haunting me because I know that the decisions I take in the next couple of months are big decisions that would decide a big chunk of my life. After contemplation here’s what I think will happen in the next 5 years in the reverse order of likeliness:
- Fron would be working in New York
- Sonia would have opened a restaurant
- Steph would be living in Germany
- Sapu Lidi would have collectivelly written at least 1044 articles
- I would still be swimming for at least once a week
- I would still play music
- I would still be listening to music on Spotify
- Jesus would still be my savior
As my friend John would say, when you’re rafting on a river and you can hear the waterfall get louder, your heart pounds harder because you know it’s going to be a big fall, you hold on to the edge of your raft to anticipate. But when you pass the fall, it wasn’t as bad as you think.
When you know that a lot of change is coming in your life and the anticipation builds, your mind can do nothing but to think about the possible outcomes which can be emotionally taxing, here’s a tip from my friend John: it’s nice to have something to hold on to. Instead of thinking about what will change in 5 years, think about what will stay in 5 years.
From the list above, if I can keep one of the most important thing in my life, I would have, as my friend John said, “something to hold on to”.
