Have a Seat, Grab a Drink
Hi, I see you’ve clicked into this blog for a read. This one’s a chill read, so take a seat, grab a drink and join me. I have a cup of iced americano sitting next to me and my view for today is a grey cloudy sky with drizzling rain tapping on my glass windows. Alas, I cannot change the view, but I can enjoy this cold cozy weather and finally wear that one sweater that’s been tucked away in the corner of my closet. Oh, and not to forget, I have “My Love Mine All Mine” by Mitski playing in the background, it really completes the experience.
Alright, are you comfy? Let’s go.
Wondering Where They Are
Recently, life has been exhausting for me and I didn’t have much time to think and reflect on things because they just keep coming. Now that I finally have some time to rest, a sudden thought struck my mind — the people that we used to meet, where are they now?
In the world of tech where everything is somehow connected to the internet, there’s no way you can’t find someone’s digital footprint by doing a simple search on their profiles on social media — unless they are those totally off-the-grid type of people, the ones that like to live on low profiles, barely even posting anything on those platforms.
Okay, back to the question — “The people that we used to meet, where are they now?” — I think this is a rather interesting question to ask oneself.
You’re always meeting new people and you would keep in touch with some of them simply because you guys just clicked so well, so to speak. But for some of the people that we meet — we have a good time, exchange contacts, and let time do its thing and drift us apart. The next time we think about them is probably at the most random time, like now.
It makes sense that we can’t possibly keep up with everyone’s life and how they’re doing every single day, that’s why we get moments like this — wondering how they’re doing after weeks, months, years of not seeing or hearing from them.
As I previously mentioned, it’s easy to find people in today’s world, but that really only happens if they’re keeping their profiles updated on social media. If they cut you off completely — e.g. blocking your contacts, instagram accounts — there isn’t really any other way of having access to them, unless you have a mutual friend that knows them and still stays in contact with them.
Watching People Grow Up
If you’re lucky enough and they didn’t cut you off, you could probably still see some updates from them. This is the most exciting part — to see how they’re doing. After a long time of not hearing from them, you search up their profiles and you see their updates.
Some of them have families now, some of them have partners, or even changed partners, some of them even drive a car. That table mate you had in secondary school? They excelled in their studies and went on to study in a local university. That class clown that always made the class laugh till their stomach hurts during classes? He’s a model at a modelling agency now. That close friend that you used to hang out with during recess? She went on to study abroad and you never heard from her ever since due to distance and difference in time zones. That one classmate who said she hated kids so much? She’s a kindergarten teacher now, haha how ironic.
It’s crazy how so much has changed since you last saw them. Crazy for me, at least.
We all have lives to live, and to know that everyone is pursuing their dreams and the life they desire is a satisfying thought to me. It feels good to know that some of us are growing up well. If I could tell them something, I would tell them that I’m really happy for them, to see their progress and to be able to witness the changes in their life.
Writing from a perspective of a 19 year old, this current stage of life is where everyone is doing something incredible — getting a driving licence, getting into a full-time job of their choice, starting their own companies, hustling multiple jobs, studying overseas, even picking up a new skill, working on themselves — there’s so much more that I could list but we would be here all day.
To say the least, everyone is just working hard while growing up. Watching my friends and strangers grow up from the kids we used to be, to the responsible and mature adults we are aspiring to become.
I love watching people grow.
Bonus: Wondering Where Some Strangers Are Now
Just throwing in this bonus for funsies.
What about those one-off interactions with strangers we had?
Where is that stranger now? The one that asked you for directions to the bus stop? — Did they ever make it to the bus stop? The one that you played with in an online multiplayer game and started talking and laughing about the most random things? — Are they still playing that very same game or have they stopped? That one seller you met on Carousell and had a good chat with — how are they doing now?
It may seem totally out of the blue to wonder about a stranger’s life, but really, wouldn’t you be interested to know how others make a living and how they live their lives? We only have one life and we can’t experience everything ourselves, there’s literally not enough time for that. So I really adore those random chats with strangers and learning about their lifestyles.
Conclusion
To watch others grow is quite a refreshing feeling. To watch others pursue what they’ve always wanted, to watch them work on themselves and put in the effort to make things work, it makes me feel extremely proud of them. The goals that we thought were impossible to reach when we first talked about it, are now closer than ever. I really do hope that we will reach the goal that we have set for ourselves since day 1.
Thanks for reading, and have fun looking for your old friends.
Quote of The Blog
Everything you go through, grows you.
– Unknown