It is my birthday today. I am now 24. It feels very good to turn a year older. All optimism aside, it is not every human who gets to live another 365 days and have a ‘special’ day to celebrate life.

My 365 days have seen me graduate with a Computer Science degree, had jobs I have wanted, lost some opportunities and pursued many more. I have had a few firsts I’m very proud of: co-authoring a peer reviewed paper that waas accepted for presentation and publication at an ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CompED conference, working with an international open source developer team and, improving my problem solving and programming skills, greatly. It has been an incredible year.

I have loved and been loved greatly!

As I start living another 365 days, I have a question for myself and you reading this. Are you afraid to fly?

I have always been afraid of failing. Not getting what I’m working towards. Lacking money, lacking these, lacking that. I believe this is a mutual feeling for many of us. And honestly, this fear keeps us up, grinding and doing everything in our control to reduce it. On one hand it seems to be a good thing –it catalyzes our endurance and ability to bring forth lives we are excited about. On the other, it paralyzes us and prevents us from living today, when all we have is today. We get too anxious of what tomorrow will hold while we let today’s moments slip.

But I have felt another unfamiliar fear and anxiety crippling in. A fear of things turning out as greatly as I have them in my mind. Geting that job, travelling, acceptance to that master’s degree, a healthy family, a love and life so great that I doubt whether I deserve it. Have you felt this? Are you afraid of the possibility of flying? Flying so greatly that instead of enjoying and living in that grace, you are afraid of falling?

I wish myself and you reading this, a fly so great. That life might bring to us the things we dream of, the things we work so relentelessy for. And when we fly, we are not afraid of the heights. We instead live moment to moment, experiencing what is.

Don’t be afraid to fly. “Here and now, boys; here and now.”