Skip to main content

The Game of Life

In accordance with the 8+ age recommendation plastered on the side of the Game of Life box, we've been exposed to the "blueprint" ("Life Stories") of life since we were mere children. Our stages of life have been set out for us, with timestamps at the approximate ages of 5, 18, 22, 30, and 60.*

It's so standard--this kind of thinking. And there's a reason for it. Obviously, these stages of life are traditional for most people, but they're also so tightly grasped onto because of the stability they provide for holders of this idea. It provides a clearer vision and comfort from the frightening mystery of the future. 

Yet as we linger in each stage, we continuously look to what comes next. Personally, I've always admired those older than me and glorified their experiences. In comparison to their grand stories, my life always felt slightly less interesting-- always one step behind. And being exposed to what would soon be coming, I only had my thoughts set on the future. 

While being in college was once my only aspiration **, now I aspire to savor the present. Cheesy, right.*** But in all seriousness, we've been accustomed to suffer now and be happy in the future. Unfortunately, it'll only get worse in the future: looking forward to yet another stage of life and probably even backward to what we once had. And just to touch onto another flaw in this thinking, your expectation based on the blueprint will undoubtedly be failed sometime in your life.

So savor the moment. 

It's cliché, but it's common for a reason. Now that it's our last year of high school, try not to get too caught up with what's right around the corner. And now that I've adapted this new type of thinking, I cannot contain my excitement for what I am now: a senior!****



*These numbers correlate to the obvious events of starting grade school, becoming an adult and going to college, graduating to find a real job, getting married and starting a family, and, finally, having grandchildren and retiring.

**More specifically, a romanticized future that I foolishly could not contain my excitement for

***I hope you got the joke

****Yes, all my friends have already gotten annoyed at me for pointing this out dozens of times

Comments

  1. Abby LiangSeptember 18, 2020 at 1:43 PM

    Hahah Sabrina I love your footnotes!! But wow this hit hard - I think especially with quarantine, I've been trying to live more in the present. Can't believe we're seniors, wow 🙈

    ReplyDelete
  2. KatieSeptember 21, 2020 at 8:28 AM

    This was so eloquently written and I really get what you're saying! I think lately I've been feeling a bit differently because I've been caught in this thought cycle of missing the past. I'll keep your writing in mind :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Fiction of Eye Contact

This picture makes me so  uncomfortable.  While it's eye-opening to find reason behind the normalities of point of view in film, the eye-level shot appears far from normal in my eyes. Is it the purple suit? The hands crossed? Or the specific positioning of the viewer on a table that makes me so uneasy? It's probably a combination of my suspicions, but I've decided that to its core, it's the eye contact that creates my discomfort. Most of these types of shots never reach the extent of eye contact. Instead, the similarity in levels creates a feeling of similarity shared by the character and viewer. There is no power disparity, no difference in viewpoint. Look at Forrest Gump and this eye-level shot (note that he's not looking at you). But once eye contact comes into play, the connection is too strong. Of course, any good producer will aim to form a connection for an audience to a film. However, there's comfort in a screen lying between a film and its viewer. It&#
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome Back

Every meeting, email, or letter begins with a greeting. "Good morning," "hello," or "dear *recipient.*" Only once an opening has been made can the intent of communication be addressed. However, though unnecessary in content, such polite phrases serve to transition and maintain friendly relations beyond just solemn work. In Korean, the staple greeting comparable to "hi" or "hello," literally means, how are you? However, no one interprets it that way or responds to the question. Despite not staying true to its meaning, it is a necessary means of easing into the meat of a conversation. Very isolated from the other employees, I often found myself asking for favors or questions at work without saying "hi" or "how are you" first. I noticed I was disrupting their work and disregarding their existence as a person and instead only seeing them as a source of inquiry. By bypassing any greeting, any conversation becomes too a
5 comments
Read more

Some Self-Reflection for a Second Semester Senior

Despite being in AP Lit and not AP Lang, I've written more in the past four months than I've ever written in my life. That comes to no one's surprise, though. It was college application season! Yes, I wouldn't call it exactly enjoyable , but, in retrospect, I look at this experience with excitement. Let me say, I used to fear  essays. I feared writing. I feared racking through my mind to describe thoughts with words that didn't quite suffice. Just the thought of a paper planted a pit of dread in my stomach. But thanks to this blog, I've found my voice and inevitably developed it as I shared about myself with colleges that don't even know my face. I've channeled my genuine sentiments and expressed them through the nuances of each word, something I couldn't do just five months ago.  With prompts dumbfounding me, I was forced to scrutinize my personality and conjure a character for myself. And to my surprise, I got creative. I stretched trivial traits i
Post a Comment
Read more