Is life passing you by?
Have you ever wondered if life is passing you by? I’m currently reading The Why Cafe by John P. Strelecky and when the main character said “life is passing me by”, it resonated in my mind with a conversation I had 2 days ago about when do I feel I began owning my life.
Recently, I was having a conversation with someone I’d just met. We were talking about past life experiences and he tells me:
“I feel like I began actually owning and deciding about my life at around 16 or 17 years old. Before that, it wasn’t really MY life.”
Followed by:
“At what age do you feel like you had ownership of yours?”
Until this moment, I’ve used the phrase “desde que tengo uso de razón” which translates to something like: “since I have use of reason” to refer to the moment of life when you are responsible for your actions. This to me, happens at 7 years old, and that was the first answer that popped into my head. However, before actually replying, I immediately questioned myself: 7 y/o is perhaps the theoretical age we supposedly start using our reasoning, but when did I really begin making choices, having a voice and understanding consequences of my actions?
Then (and it’s incredible how this happens in a matter of seconds), I vividly remembered telling my parents I wanted to go to a summer camp (completely as my own initiative), and I remembered going to the camp and afterwards deciding/understanding whether I had liked it or not. This was when I was 9 y/o and I definitely had a voice and a conscience over my tastes and my personality. I have vivid memories since I was 7 for sure, and I would say I started making conscious choices and opinions since (I think) 9. So, I finally told the guy that I felt I’d begun at around 9 or 10 y/o.
The question, the book and reflecting over this matter, have made me feel grateful about my parents giving me the power to decide over my life since I was very young. I feel comfortable saying that life stopped passing by me at 9 years old. Ever since, I have made my decisions (obviously not ALL of them) being very conscious of who I am and my circumstances. I don’t know when are we supposed to do it, or when should we do it, but I do know it is extremely eye-opening to ask yourself this question and realize if you feel life is passing you by or, if not, when did it stop.
Whatever the answer, I believe we are here to learn, enjoy and do good, so I encourage you to try to understand at what point in life are you right now and if you want to let life to pass you by or not.
