It's Times Like These...

One of 'em songs that get me emotional! Especially on days (or even just moments!) when I feel like I'm on the verge of something huge...and huge isn't necessarily good, or bad. And that's what makes me so antsy, how the future is so unknown...

NO MATTER...It's for these emotions that we live. The fears, the anxieties, the excitements...the nerves and butterflies-in-the-stomach....If every result or ending was known to us, what a boring life it would be! Don't you think?

The last time I've felt this much apprehension was over 13 years ago, when I was a 3rd year high school student, and a friend invited me to be part of the school's "team" for a climbing competition. I was flattered by the invite, but at the same time freaking out inside, because (A) I'm not accustomed to being with people other than my own circle of friends, and (B) I've only climbed maybe twice in my life before that, which gives me a smaller-than-nil chance of NOT embarrassing myself on competition day.

But amidst all my jitters, I also knew the value of stretching myself. Despite the initial discomforts brought on by my terrible shyness, I also sensed how being involved in the sport of climbing would lead me to something different, something I've never experienced before in my life, even if I didn't know what that something was. So, armed with nothing but faith, out of my comfort zone I stepped.

I climbed. I trained. I attempted the different walls at Power Up, and cried when I didn't finish Into the Woods. I met people that weren't my batchmates. I met people who weren't from my school, and older/younger than me. (Take note that those meant a LOT to me as a timid high schooler, haha!) And yes, I joined that inter-school climbing competition, where I surprised myself by managing a 2nd place finish. Just goes to show how little I knew about my own capability!

And the rest? It would take a lot more time and words to describe how "the rest" changed my life. Not all changes were easy to swallow; in fact, even as I tried to manage my expectations, I would find myself caught off guard many times.

But ultimately, all changes had been for the better. Everything was automatically charged to experience, and shaped how I live and the person that I am now.

it's times like these you learn to live again /
it's times like these you give and give again /
it's times like these you learn to love again /
it's times like these time and time again

On repeat, until this emo-ness goes away.