- Vol. 10
- Chapter 09
It’s never too late to pack up and go to meet your truest self
You stand in the middle of the road, rain washing over you, your hands are too loaded with heavy baggage to reach for an umbrella. Your life is steady. Comfortable. Carefully planned according to the standards pre-approved by the society. First – a career and jumping onto the property ladder, working yourself to the bone and partying with friends like there’s no tomorrow. Then – a family and losing yourself to motherhood. Perhaps a divorce and a depression, a new hobby, a fling with a yoga teacher or a horse-riding instructor, a retirement at sixty-five, a cruise around the world and death. And somewhere along the pre-programmed “to do” that’s expected of you, you’ve lost that precious connection with yourself. Lying in bed at night, you can't help but wonder “what if”. “What if I could?” “What if I would?” Hesitating to take the step into the unknown. Convinced it’s already too late. And then one morning you wake up. Wake up to the sound of the same rain still raging outside feeling somewhat different. New. Refreshed. But most importantly free. A new you jumps out of bed; she puts on a blue dress with a yellow belt, grabs a rainbow-striped bag and a pink coat and heads into the rain armed with a coral red umbrella. It shoots up, spreading its wings above your head. Your kaleidoscope of colours brightens up a grey day. People stare. Some smile. Some shake their heads, but you don’t care. No longer hesitant, you raise your hand and pull in a taxi.
“Where to?” asks the driver. Your symphony of colours makes him squint.
“To the new me, please.”
He nods and starts the engine.
It’s never too late to pack up and go to meet your truest self
You climb into the car and sink into the back seat.
Bob Marley's life-reassuring hymn pours from the radio.