there is still time
and it will pass anyway
I’m not where I want to be in life. It feels like everyone has their shit together but me and I’m trying not to get overwhelmed by all there is to being an adult. I’m 20 and I’ve never had a job, don’t know what I plan to do with my degree, and only got over my fear of making a LinkedIn account yesterday.
Because I was working on my CV and LinkedIn yesterday, I decided to give myself a break from thinking about ‘grownup stuff’ today and watch a movie. The movie I chose was ‘I Saw the TV Glow’. There are many great things about this movie, which I will explore in later essays, but what’s really stuck with me is this:
“there is still time.”
Even after Owen has made his decision, “there is still time.”
It’s the beginning of a new year, which means New Year’s resolutions. And with New year’s resolutions come setbacks. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you can’t expect to magically wake up as the person you want to be. But a setback is not a failure unless you let it be. Maybe you decided to learn a new hobby or pick up a new habit, but once it got difficult, you gave up. Maybe you don’t do resolutions anymore because you failed your 2022 resolution of going to the gym daily and promptly decided resolutions were not for you. But the thing is, until you die, it’s never too late. Life is an ongoing event, and you can still try again.
I started learning to crochet when I was 16. Now at 20, I’ve even worn some of my crochet projects as part of outfits and gifted some to family members. But what you don’t see when I’m wearing my most recent project is the time I quit crocheting for months. Or the fact that I worked on a particular project on and off for months and contemplated giving up several times. If I’d given up on crocheting the first time I failed a granny square (or the second or the fifth), I wouldn’t have half my closet. A setback or failure is not the end, and it’s never too late to try again. It’s never too late to do what you want to do or become the person you want to be.
It’s important to see failure or inconsistency as a setback on a journey that will one day end in victory. You may feel behind your peers in terms of where they are in their careers compared to you, but there is still time. You can get to where you want to be. All you have to do is try.
Trying can be hard, especially in a time when everything is cringe and embarrassing. But you will never be where you want to be unless you start. That’s the hard part—starting. At the end of the day, once you achieve your goal or get where you want to be, it won’t matter how long it took you to get there or how many obstacles you faced along the way. Instead of seeing failure, you need to see progress. Your journey will always end in success so long as you don’t end it until you succeed.
Even if you struggle and even if it takes more work than you anticipated, there is still time to get to where you want to be.
With that being said, do not fall into the trap of thinking letting the time pass. There is still time, but it is not infinite. Don’t waste your days on the promise that there will be time later to get back on track. There is still time and the time is now. Do not let it become too late.
author’s note
Happy New Year!! i just watched ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ (as in the credits were rolling an hour ago) and, wow, it moved me. i had a different essay planned for this week but it will have to wait because all i can think about is this movie. i made this spoiler-free but you should still watch the movie if you haven’t, because it is great.
Also, you may have noticed I have a “buy me a coffee” account now for anyone who wants to support my work by making a contribution!!
Thank you so much for reading and as always, lmk what you think in either comments or DMs.
With Love,
Atanda