By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
Many a times in life, have we attempted to control our own destiny. To choose our own way in life. What path we should take and which ones to avoid. Sometimes, we are successful in doing so. We are able to get what we wanted and when we wanted it. The piece of clothing that caught our eye, wrapped in a bag some time later. The dream job we always wanted, would be ours down the line. Of course, with hard work added to the mixture. Mundane as some of these may be, it feels good to see the results we envisioned in our heads come to life.
But, life isn’t so simple as to play out all the time according to our will. Some paths we intended to walk through ended up getting blockaded. A piece of material may catch our eye, but an empty wallet keeps us from reaching for it. And that dream job we envisioned, may not be there at the end of a path we had traversed.
Instead, life gives us better. A better path to walk through. One we had never known of its existence before. Suddenly, we ended up finding better things in life. The expensive clothing that kept us awake at nights was left behind for one reason or another. Instead, we ended up receiving a more beautiful piece, given to us for free, courtesy of a relative abroad.
Most of the times, I try to plan what to write for this space. When an ending suddenly occurs to me, I try to plan how to get there. What illustrations or metaphors to use, what other bits and pieces I will need to fill up the entire space.
And when a seemingly great intro pops up, I try to build on it, and try to make something passable. Most of these times, a road block would be there to derail me on my way. A sudden shortage of words and sentences to fill in the blanks.
My plans in writing never ended up completely materializing. Unforeseen hiccups often forced me to think of something else, try to improvise. And these, completely off the top of my head, would fit well. Delivering in a better way my first idea. A much better fit. Of course, from my own perspective.
Thinking of our own future is not something we can help. When we are matured enough we would try to make a sound plan to get us and our families to better situations. Coupled with ambitions, we try to do as much as we can to make our own formulas come into fruition.
Yet, we never know what life has in store for us. We may not get what we wanted, but, to repeat, life can give us something better than what we had imagined. We can never know. The ceiling inside of us might be higher than we thought.
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