When Your Best Days Are Behind You

When I was five, together with my twin brother I learned how to swim.

When I was a first-grader, I was ahead in my class.

When I was a fifth-grader, I won the Haiku writing contest.

When I was a sixth-grader, I knew how to assemble/disassemble computers.

When I was a froshie high, my team won the table tennis championship.

Right now in college,

I am a swimming instructor, the team captain of my school’s table tennis team, a business proprietor and an IT consultant.

Every time, I’m asking myself what each of it meant to me.

Reiteratively, I’m telling myself that those things are recognition not of what I have already achieved, but the recognition of my potential to even become better.

Indeed, my life has been a paradoxical thing about what I really want. Every day I yearn for early success so that I could take it easy and not have to prove myself. But on the other hand, I get up every day excited over the prospect that the best is yet to come.

Which make me think. Early success is great but what would be the excitement if I know that my best days are over?

What is there to look forward to?

I know different people would have different takes, but I clearly would not be happy if I have the understanding that I have already reached my peak — that my best days was in college when I was the best sports player, or won a geeky contest. What about the dot com millionaire who made 35 million dollars in the late 90’s, and know he may never do anything near like it ever again?

On second thought, maybe early success is not as fulfilling as I thought. I want to choose to live with the excitement that I still have mountains to conquer, that I can still get a better job that I have right now, that my business still can get better, that my best writings are yet to come, and that there will be more places to visit, more dreams to achieve, and more challenges to overcome.

Maybe the last thing I would want is to be like Alexander who cried that there would be no more lands to conquer.

How about you, what is your outlook in life?

Isn’t it a good choice to live life knowing success will come, and not to reach it in due haste, but enjoy the journey knowing you will arrive in due time, and that the best journey is that which is enjoyed on the way, rather than on the speed in which you arrive?

Is it a good idea to plan so that you can slowly peak, instead of reaching the peak early? And then going downhill from thence on?

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