Magic Thread

When life blurs, there's no going back.

There's a story of a boy who hated going to school and wished that he could just fast forward life and skip it in an instant. If only he was an adult, all grown up and not having other grown ups telling him what to do.

As he dragged himself slowly to school, he encountered a mysterious old lady. In her hand, she was holding a ball of silver thread.

"Young boy, it doesn't seem like you fancy your life at the moment. What if you could just skip it and fast forward life to the good parts? Here. take this. This is a magic thread, your life thread. As you can see, it's unwinding slowly but if you give it a pull, you can skip to the future. You can pull it as much or as little as you want. But once you pull it, it can never go back in. Interested?" - The mysterious old lady making a fine sales pitch.

Of course he went for it without hesitation. He starting pulling the thread and was suddenly transported to an office. He was in a suit, looking slick and about to make a presentation in a room crowded with people. He realized he was an adult now but with no idea of what is really going on. The thought of having to speak to a crowd scares him and so he started pulling the thread again.

This time round, he got transported to a nice house. It seems that he got married to a beautiful wife and had a beautiful child. He doesn't know what's going on but this doesn't seem that bad. While his wife was in the kitchen, he picked up his child, who started crying out loud in an instant. Panicking and getting annoyed by the crying, he put the child down and wished that the child would just stop crying.

If only the child was older. Not a problem, he started pulling the magic thread again. This time round, he's still in the same house but his wife is looking older. The child is nowhere to be seen but he soon learned from his wife that their child is already an adult with a family of his own. She seems annoyed, how could he not know all that?

Not wanting to be lectured by his wife, he took out the magic thread and gave it another pull. This time round, he found himself standing at a cemetery. Looking at the tombstones, he was shocked to see the name of his parents, along with what he assumes is his wife.

No, this is horrifying. This is not what he wanted. But alas, there's not much magic thread left to pull. He started crying, remembering the old lady's warning that when the there's no thread left to unwind, that's the end of his life. This is it. He's lived the entirety of his life, clueless to what's going on, with barely any memories of what happened. Sad to say, he never really lived.

That's roughly how the story goes. It's adapted from "Adventures From The Book Of Virtues", based on the European folk tale of the same name.

I don't know about you, but as a kid, I've always wanted to grow up quickly so that I can do whatever I want. To have control, to have a say in my own life. I also assumed that as an adult, I would magically know what to do and have it all figured out. Yeah, right.

Everyone is making it up as they go along, pretending to know what they're really doing. Like a duck looking graceful and gliding across the water, while paddling like a maniac below the surface. Look deeper and you'll see that we're still that same child but with an adult body. Still lost and clueless.

But that's not really the point. Have you noticed how days and years passed by fast sometimes? You could barely recall what you did for the day or for the past few years. It's like life is on fast forward but you're not in it. You're not there to experience the present moments. You're not there making beautiful, painful but rewarding memories.

You're so fixated on the future, never satisfied with the present while life unfolds in front of you. When everything blurs, there is no going back. You existed, never truly living.

Here is an invitation for you to be present. This is it. This is the journey for you to cherish. Perhaps, there is nowhere to go but here in the now.

There is no destination in life. Life is the destination.