We Are Only Freshmen

“I have never stopped learning. I am a work in progress.”

I heard this line so many times before from a mentor who is now long-gone. Through the many years that I’ve learned from him, my mentor never failed to remind me that he, as my guru, was also learning from me in more ways than one. True, I was the neophyte. I was the one who needed the learning. And through the sweet, sometimes bitter course of time, I began to realize the most important lesson of all. My teacher taught me, that no matter how great a mentor can be, no one really stops learning.

The age of 20’s to 30s is a phase that I would love to call renaissance. It is an age of reawakening wherein we should’ve learned the old lessons already. It is the time for us to try to be wise and practical at the same time. For most of us, we think that we no longer need the advice of the elderly. We aspire to live alone, earn for own bread and butter, in short, we just try to be independent. Frankly, there is nothing I find wrong with that. Independence is an impressive feeling. It makes us feel powerful. I t makes us feel that we are somehow in control of our own life. But there is thin line between independence and desolation.

Whereas independence makes us feel confident, desolation leaves us lonely and unappreciated. Independence gives us motivation to be better, while desolation leaves us no choice but to be better. Independence is a choice. Desolation is a result of bad choices.

I have a friend who is very successful in her career. At 25, she is already a part of upper Management in a prestigious company. She lives alone. She travels a lot. She earns more than she can spend. In the world of young urban professionals, my 25-year old friend has clearly made it. The question is, made to what? In the middle of the night, my friend yearns for comfort that no money or posh condos could give. In the middle of the fast life, she finds herself wanting to slow down and backtrack to what she really wants in life. In this world of speedy rat races, do we really have to be desolate to be independent?

Sometimes, questions that we don’t have answers to scare us to the brink of nonchalance. Ignorance is bliss, they say. If one can’t answer some questions, they see no point in looking after the answers. Well, what can I say, we are past the age of schools and home works. We are so over the fact that we were once novices and learners eager to learn all that life had to teach. We think we’ve earned our place in the world. Maybe. But if that were the case, questions would’ve stopped coming, would it? If learning has no place in our life now, life should’ve been perfect. And that clearly isn’t. So, what gives?

In this lifetime, one never has to stop learning simply because life is good. One never has to stop to take things to a breather and ask about things that could be and what could’ve been. No one lives twice, and it’s not as simple as repeating 3rd grade or 4th grade if you flunk the last school year. In life, as simple or bizarre this may sound, we are all freshmen.

We are only Freshmen.