Preparing and Expecting

Preparing and Expecting

By Daphne Liang

Have you ever had that time when you were preparing for something and expecting it with a bunch of backup plans and stuff? And then suddenly, boom; it's here. And you just feel stunned, surprised, and shocked.

Perhaps that wasn't the best way to describe things. I'll give you an example using. . . Christmas.

You spend hours putting up the decorations and tree, wrapping gifts, baking dinner, etc., etc.

Then suddenly Christmas comes. You don't know what to do. You spent so much time preparing for Christmas that you adapted to preparing and all that time spent preparing just goes flies out the window.

I'll use summer vacation as another example.

You're at school, and you're really excited, talking to your friends, attending end-of-the-year celebrations and graduation ceremonies. Finally, finally, it's the last day of school; you're more than happy to  leave your studies behind. But the next day you wake up and start getting ready for school when you remember: Hey, it's summer vacation, and I'm supposed to be in bed, not putting Basic Algebra Grade Two in my backpack.

Then you just fell really weird.

See what I mean? It's easy to think you're preparing for something, but not so easy to accept that you're actually just adapting to thinking you're preparing.

(In my opinion, this just shows that human beings aren't as adapted as we could be.)

So think about this as you're buying back to school supplies. Don't set your alarm clock for six o' clock the day before school starts when you've grown used to waking up at ten. Don't panic and start buying academic supplies a week before school starts. Don't forget your new schedule under a three-foot high pile of dirty summer laundry and freak out when you don't know where to go on day one.

Summer, Christmas, spring, and weekends are just minuscule breaks in the eternal donkey-cart of time and life. Your life will carry on, but time won't stop. School will come. Graduation will come. Marriage will come. Birth will come. Death will come.

It'll happen over and over again. You can't stop time.

So don't pretend to prepare. Actually prepare. It's pretty important to your life and future.

P.S., if you thought this wasn't exactly the cheeriest thing I've ever written, it doesn't matter. Just don't bombard me with 'You are a ray of sunshine' sarcasm comments, please.