We are all on the move. The Earth orbits the sun, spins around on its own axis. The wind blows, trees waver in its breeze; waves rise and fall, seawater evaporates into the clouds, and drops back down in waves of rain. Even the universe expands; stars explode as black holes emit radiation.
Amongst all this is life. The hummingbird’s frantic flutter of its wings. The turtle’s steady steps, moving forward with a slow but undeniable determination. The whales constantly searching the deep seas wailing cries for a mate.
We, humans, are also on the move. We move as the hummingbird, passionate, vigorous, motivated to make our mark on the world. We move as the turtle, venturing forwards one step after another with the ticking of time, whether we like it or not. We move as the whale, trying to navigate a vast sea of people, all in an unwavering attempt to find our soulmate.
As long as Earth keeps spinning, life will keep on moving, and so will we, determined to keep up. Because we have purpose. Maybe the Earth’s purpose. Could it be that our movement everyday gives the Earth its very purpose to keep on spinning?
However, moving can be hard. Moving signals change, and change means having to adjust to new situations, change means having the leave the old, assuring, place from where we came. Yet, a snake sheds its skin to reach out and become greater, despite the process leaving it more vulnerable than before. If not shed, the old skin confines the potential of the snake, imprisoning it to a curse of stagnation.
Change symbolises growth, change symbolises the freedom for us to keep on climbing to dizzying heights, and no one said it was going to be easy.
When we read a fantasy story, the hero always descends into an unfamiliar world that challenges the status quo. Just like these heroes, all that keeps us from the treasure we crave and the success for which we strive, is whether we stand up to the challenge we fear. So when that call for adventure comes, shall we take up on it? Or shall we stay comfortable with the status quo?
I say all this, but funnily, I was born fearing change. While everyone else wanted to quickly grow up, I wanted to stay a child for as long as I could.
For eternity, if it had been up to me. An eternal life of playing with Lego, watching cartoons and reading comics sounded like the greatest dream ever; a life of nothing ever changing.
I think I’ve always found it hard to leave things behind. I never threw out any toys, broken or not. I kept all the pencil studs. I filled up my drawer with worksheets from previous years, and then filled my mother’s drawer up with even more worksheets as I got older. I needed to set out on that journey to find the fine balance between feeling nostalgic and being stuck in the past. For the past should not be as the skin which the snake refuses to shed.
Now, a decade on, I’ve been on the move a fair bit in my life. Nanjing, Japan, Korea, New York, Canada, Cambodia… with every new place, comes a new experience. However, the journey has not just been the places to which I have travelled, it has also been the steps my mind has taken outside its comfort zone. It’s been the calls I have answered to venture outside the status quo.
At the end of their journey, the hero also always returns to the world from which they started.
Whether body or mind, a place to return is needed, a place we call home. A place where we can rest, and listen carefully for our next call to action.
As such, I’ve come to grow excited in the face of a new challenge; whatever new situation into which I am thrown. I have come to adore being on the move, knowing that places I have left have not been left behind.
They are integrated into who I am, and every time I move forward, I am bringing pieces of previous travels with me on my journey.
Every 365 days or so, the Earth spins back to the same place it was a year ago. But it is not the same Earth it was. Many mishaps and troubles may have come to be in the hereupon, yet, even more fortune and favour may have come our way.
If our Earth could talk, I’m betting it would say it has grown for the better compared to the last time it was spinning on this same spot.
I wish that, after every full revolution in our lives, we too can say the same. If we can, then perhaps we are moving in the right direction.
