The Flower That Blooms

I entered college when I was sixteen years old and graduated before I turned twenty. My entire life was a preconceived structure that had been set to certain goal, to certain time, where I was told to graduate before 21, get my first job before 23, get married before 25 and have my first child before 30.

And there I was, wondering if being on track to those numbers would deliver contentment. So there I was, questioning why everything in life has to be measured by numbers and why we couldn't free our sole existence from the rule established by the society: if we don't do something that should have been done at certain time or certain age, we're going to be trapped in a label of incompetence. It's how it gets started: we begin to compare our timelines to other people's timelines.

However, annual sunflowers sprout quickly, within seven to ten days, but it is necessary to wait for about 2 months before the bright flowers appear in shade of yellow, bronze, orange, red and brown. Lilies bloom within 18 months before they would spread their magical and sweet fragrance that resembles spicy bubblegum. And my favourite flower, rarely blooms the first year after planting. Only after 3 years, we could finally cheer on the glorious arrival of dazzling peonies with their spectacular display of colours, unbridled petals and delicate, intoxicating fragrance.

For all those facts I've stolen somewhere on the internet, what I had neglected all the time was even flowers bloom at different pace with incomparable charm. And one most important thing: they still bloom anyway.

Toastmasters is a garden full of flowers where diversity is real. I was amazed by how some flowers bloom at early stage with all their humbleness and some might bloom late but then truly cherish their long-awaited accomplishment. It was remarkable considering how life doesn't always what it seems, where looking accomplish is more important than being an accomplished person. Nonetheless, people in Toastmasters taught me that life is never a racing game.

So it's when I discovered, there is no way that our journey would mimic the journey of others as ours will be filled by its own exclusivity. We bloom exclusively with different dirt on our branches, different proportion of sunlight and different kisses of the insects' that come and go. We're allowed to follow our own timelines instead of letting others rush us to bloom.

It's okay to set our own deadlines as long as it serves aspirations to keep us blooming. But afterall, at this very moment, we're the one who formulate our distinct journey because our existence is all about living the moments. Everything else comes later.

In the end of the day, you and I, will always be the flower that blooms. Let's have faith in our own timing.

-ASA-