Going, going, gone....

Isn't it strange how we only realize the value of something after it has been taken away from us? While we are in possession of it, we either take it for granted or we forget about it completely. And then after it's gone, we realize that something is not quite right and we don't know why. It takes us some time to figure it out and by then it's too late.


The reason I was prompted to write this was due to the numerous "Do you remember when...?" lines that I have been either hearing around me or have been thinking about myself. Nostalgia. The one feeling that has been taking over my consciousness more and more recently. The realization that my college life is drawing to a close and that real-life is waiting and watching out for me....it is genuinely unnerving. So far, everything has been like a page from a step-by-step manual entitled 'Life'. School with its various challenges and excitements. College life with its various revelations on adulthood. And then what?


There is a phrase that recently popped into my head and has since then, firmly latched itself onto my thoughts - "Every problem seems hardest at the time and the smallest in retrospect."  It is very true and when I thought of this phrase, it was like remembering something I had long-forgotten. Like an unknown known. Maybe in twenty years (hell, maybe in ten) I will look back at the situation I am in now and laugh, thinking how trivial my problems were then. And I will probably do the same ten years after that. Truth is that humans were never designed to be satisfied. We always want more. And in this world where everything is so scarce, the 'more' never gets realized. And in this pursuit of 'more' we forget to enjoy the present and to cherish what we have. Later, either when we have somehow managed to get that 'more' or we have long given up the quest for it, we realize what we have missed on the journey. We then feel guilty and for a few days, consciously try to correct ourselves. However, one inherent aspect about us humans can be understood from the phrase- 'Old habits die hard'. We don't change and we go on that wild quest for the unreachable 'more' once again.


Satisfaction. It's a bittersweet feeling. One is happy that one was able to accomplish what one wanted. However, it is a doorway to bigger expectations, longer journeys and maybe more precious moments lost in the process.