"The world does not wait for anyone."
A harsh truth—one that every person, living or dead, no matter how ignorant, has either learned or will come to learn.
Looking back now, I realize I was one of the ignorant ones. Coddled from the moment I was born, I lived in the illusion that the world would always bend to my will. I believed I could ride any wave I wanted and reach my destination—without ever learning how to swim.
Oh, how wrong I was.
If only I had recognized how foolish my mindset truly was. Every warning, every scolding, every heartfelt plea from those who cared about me—they all bounced off the thick walls of my laziness. I had no will to change. No hunger to grow. No desire to do anything meaningful—not for myself, and certainly not for the world.
Not then.Not until that day.
The day that could have easily become my last—the day I stood at the fragile boundary between life and death.
It was supposed to be just another ordinary moment on our vacation. But fate has a cruel sense of timing.
Everything changed because of him.
The man who saved me.
The man who gave up everything so that others, including myself, could keep breathing.
He wasn't just a bystander or a stranger. He was someone's husband. Someone's father. The breadwinner of a family who looked up to him as their foundation.
And in a single, tragic moment—he was gone.
I can still see the look in his wife's eyes when she heard the news. It wasn't just grief. It was devastation in its rawest form. A silence that screamed louder than any voice ever could. Her entire being trembled as she held their child close, trying to stay strong as her world shattered around her.
And me?I broke.
Something inside me snapped—something I hadn't even realized could break. Guilt, rage, sorrow… they all collided and sparked something unfamiliar in me.
Resolve.
That moment became my turning point. The day I stopped making excuses. The day I stopped hiding behind comfort and privilege. The day I chose to rise.
Not along the well-worn path laid out for me.Not under the shadow of my family's expectations.
But on a road no one in my family had ever dared to walk.
That was the beginning.The beginning of my journey.The beginning of me.