Ripstaver

As I stepped foot in a foreign land, the euphoria collided with my ill-conceived understanding of what awaited! The weather, the culture, and countless other issues. Leaving our known environment is always a surprise, but mine was rooted in shallow insight and feeble, slipshod research. The moment I started my life in the newfound land, I relentlessly dodged hail and thunderous situations only to smile, sometimes almost immediately by a bright sun of hope through a thick cloud of my anxiety. There were headwinds in all of my efforts! Moving, getting up, and doing mundane tasks felt excruciatingly demanding on every part of my mind and body. Always chasing for more time, holding my breath often, and constantly being uncomfortable with myself left me exhausted, even when I woke up in the morning! The scenarios became routine, and I believed that was how my life would be. But during these stormy periods, quietly and blessedly, my earliest grown-up realization about life began to sprout without fireworks, banners, or confetti. The sense of being in a pendulum state, oscillating between the crest and trough of possibilities and chances, turned my metiers endurable. I resolved on an order for my exertions; choose quickly but firmly and begin—that’s all there is. There is never an end to analyzing all options, and there is never a perfect time to start.

The clock ticked, and I grew older than wiser. The commotions of life began to lose their sharp edges and felt pale compared to my previous encounters and sentiments about them. I entertained the idea that I, too, was endowed with a gift—a good fortune like everyone I envied dearly! It took a while to anchor in faith and hug and accept this ethereal feeling: we each have a unique mission for a limited time. So, the perspicuity of complete trust in life and its cycle—everything—the time and space I inhabited that constantly slipped away from my grasp needed deep learning roots in me. Convictions can only chaperone me if I become involuntarily grateful for the trees, clouds, sand dunes, trickles on the lake, or an ant that falls by my side of an unmarked trail. Conceding during difficult times is how we avoid being forsaken.

When we consider our place a mere dot in the history of this vast blue planet, it can be challenging to heed the guidance of our souls. But we have always been a dot, insignificant compared to a universe that stretches 12 billion light-years wide and is expanding faster than our minds can comprehend. As we each breathe our way toward our shared destination, it’s a paradox! Yet, we are an integral part of the universe. The quarks may be smaller than us, but they, too, are part of the whole. So, the legacy of the universe must reside within everyone, within each of us. Without us, all of the ripstavers, the fabric of the cosmos is but a threat!

If you are tired like me, you ought to be; our journey is wandering with wonder and without a known destination other than knowing we put one step after another. That’s all there is, really! Let us unwind in a tree shade or lie down on the meadow if you stumble upon one. When you find yourself under a desert-like scorching sun without relief, remember that the shade of cloud is on its way to shield you. They must. We share the same elements with the celestial bodies. We were part of them before the inheritance brought us into being, and we will remain so in this never-ending universe. When you hear the howling in the wind, know the clouds gallop to nourish us with solace. It is quantum entanglement, the craftwork of rain, to assure us they, too, are wounded when we cry alone!

There is much more to the world than what we think, calculate, and anticipate with observations. The hidden splendor awaits, and it must—not how we desire it to be but how it ought to be.