"Speech is silver, but silence is golden"

As a self acclaimed introvert, I absolutely lived by that quote. In a lot of situations, I thought that it was wise to stay silent. Or perhaps I was just using it as an excuse. "It's not that I don't have anything to say, I chose not to say anything!" Of course, I would also have long conversations where I do talk, usually in something that I would call deep talks. I saw it as the only form of talks that are worth having.

However, I then learned about the importance and necessity of small talk.

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars." - Les Brown

If you aim high, even if you don't get there, you can probably get pretty damn close, and that's good too. When I grew up, adults like to remind me of this quote (or ones with similar meaning), encouraging me to dream big.

The intention was probably to set me up to do well in life. However, aiming high came with high expectations as well, which then turned into pressure. Some pressure can be good to give you a push, but too much pressure would just crush you.

"When life gives you lemon, make lemonade." Sometimes life throws something in your way that you are not ready for, or something that you just do not expect. And as the saying goes, you are supposed to make the best out of it. But, sometimes, it's not that you are surprised by it. Instead, you just think that it should not happen in the first place. It feels like it is not the norm. It's more akin to life giving you lemons when lemons are not in season.

As I'm approaching 30, on the surface level, I often find myself thinking: “I have a stable job that I like, I am able to save a decent amount of money, I"m able buy a property, and I'm getting married, all before I'm 30. Wow!”

But why though? Isn't there an idiom that goes “it is never too late”? In this post, I'll explore these two sides, looking into how the two concepts manifested in my life so far.