26

Today, I pass the quarter-life marker, that's if we humans live till we're 100.

I enjoy birthdays a lot, but since turning 25 last year, birthdays have become a rather sobering affair. Though I gladly await the tick of the clock to strike 12, and see sms and calls pour in (nowadays, your facebook wall gets plastered with birthday wishes), I cling on to the day not wanting it to end. Because, it only means that time is fleeting, and I am getting older.

It is a sobering feeling that each one of us is clipped with an expiry date from the moment we were born. Each birthday brings us closer to that date, and ultimately, to our Maker, if we believe in him.

The question that faced me this year: What have I done with my life?

I feel like I'm not doing enough. I feel like I've messed up. I feel incomplete and inadequate. I feel that I am missing something. I feel that I'm growing older, and that I might not have the strength to accomplish my dreams and goals.

It is a sobering feeling.

What is my birthday wish? That I die finished, being able to accomplish everything that was set in my lot in life and leave behind a legacy. That I seize each moment with passion and live like I'm alive. To not conform to the routine and norm, and settle for plain ordinary.

What is 26 years compared to eternity? a mere vapour in the ocean.

It is a sobering feeling.