With relatively few immediate implications, today happened to be my eighteenth birthday.

Aside from cake, presents, a nice meal with my parents, and many, many well-wishers on Facebook, life continued as it would on any other day – exactly as I desired.  An eighteenth birthday, nevertheless, seems to beg for a few moments of reflection; I welcome any words of wisdom or sage advice anyone cares to share.

I am, with very few exceptions, pleased with the direction my life is heading.  Pleased, but far from satisfied.

In the past, I have referred to high school as an endurance test — a burden, something one must survive in order to reach bigger and better things.  I’m realizing now, however, that all those years were merely training sessions, that all of the uphill climbs still lie in front of me.

I can’t wait.

There is so much ahead of me which I want and need to accomplish; the challenge is not in finding goals for the coming years, but rather in establishing a time frame and managing the feasibility of realizing these desires.

I want to learn how to write better.  Read so much more.  Take every interesting class available to me while in college.  Get involved in a research project, dedicate time to public service, pursue my passions.  Find a mentor, one who helps push me to my limits.  Travel, learn, experience, grow.

I struggle with concrete goals, with determining that I will accomplish Task X by Date Y, so that Plan Z is pulled off without a hitch.  In my experience though, living without allowing room for error, for spontaneity, for random, stupid events… that sort of lifestyle rarely lends itself to flawless victories.  And right now, I’m not seeking flawless.  I have time for flawlessness, for perfection, when I’m a touch older — but at this moment, I just want challenges, to make opportunities to prove myself.  And maybe I’m going about it all wrong, but I don’t expect to ever know unless I try.

Thanks for reading, thanks for the feedback, thanks for the support.