Lim: Inward

Lim: Inward

2020 caused us to pause and ponder.

What motivates us to do what we do? Without these motivations, would we continue to do what we do? If we had to lose everything in this life, what would be the last thing we would want to hold on to? Is doing more important than becoming?

These are the questions we ask ourselves when faced with circumstances that somehow magnify our mortality and seemingly expedite our eventual exit on Earth.

For the restless travelers among us drowning in the rut of lockdown restrictions, the journey we’ve had to take in the last nine months has been inward.

With life, death is a given. We are all born with an expiration date we largely choose to ignore. It’s time to up the reality dosage. Because we don’t have time — at least, not like we think we do.

We must all make the time to make the journey inward.

Life is a gift — a gift that should not be wasted. It is a means to an end. And in our lifetime, it is our duty to uncover what that end is so we can utilize our limited time on Earth to work towards that end.

2021 will bring us what we want it to bring. Because no matter what happens, we have the power to make choices and to make meaning out of the choices we make.

We can be a force for evil or a force for good. We can choose altruism over greed. We can choose truth over falsehood. We can create our own joy, purpose, sense of wonder and adventure through the moments we choose to bring into our lives.

The years don’t create the memories. We do.

When life doesn’t go as planned, we can adapt, innovate, create. We have the power to carve a path out of the forest in front of us. We just have to forge on, undeterred by the uncharted and unknown.

Learn how to drive. Learn how to cook. Learn how to speak a new language. Try a new cuisine. Strike up a conversation. Set up a Zoom meeting. Everything worth doing entails risk.

If it doesn’t excite you or scare you a little bit, it’s probably not worth doing.

Like so many other baby boomers, my computer literacy is all self-taught. It was an excruciating experience to make the transition from pen and paper to keyboard and screen. I still feel the pain every day. With every device. With every app. With every new upgrade.

Each day is a struggle but what would life be without a challenge? There are days when I’m inspired, days when I’m defeated. But there are no days when I’m bored. When you keep an open mind, you never run out of new things to try. There’s always something to live for.

But I’m hardly intrepid, just gifted at certain times with superhuman courage. These are the moments I live for.

Till the day we hit the road or take to the skies once more, the tireless travelers among us will continue to journey in a different direction — inward. I wish you safe travels in 2021!

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