birthday wishes

"Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure, nor this thing, nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing."
William Butler Yeats

As the flames of the candles on my birthday cake flickered, I took longer than I ever had to come up with my birthday wishes. No more, "I want to make more friends", "I want to be prettier", "I want to find true love". None of that shenanigans. The wax continued to steadily melt onto my cake, but I just couldn't waste a whole other 364 days to blow out candles for just any wish. Then it hit me.

I have exactly everything I could possibly wish for. NOTHING.

I am constantly reminding myself that wishes do not and will not get me anywhere in life. Anything I want, I have to work for, with the mere incentive of aspirations and motivations. And I am happy. Strangely, complacently satisfied with all that I have.

So here I go, another 364 before I can come to reminiscence about my younger year. After all, I've always dreamed of growing up to be,
Christine Dzou.