27 February 2014

How I met my enlightenment, of sorts

Tonight, I finished watching season 4 of How I Met Your Mother. The season has 24 episodes. So what I watched was 4-24. Season 4 episode 24. 4-24. Also my birthday, April 24. Funny that. 


This season's episode somewhat spoke to me. If you follow the show, you'll know what I'm talking about. This is the episode where Ted the narrator transitions into a practicing architect into a teaching one. He almost got married this season -- the biggest objective of his life, which I found pathetic at first -- and was left at the altar by a single mom who still has issues about her child's father. Interesting mixture. Add to that Robin the TV reporter's bouts of unemployment and getting a new TV anchor job, and also Marshall the wannabe environmental lawyer sucking it up as a corporate lawyer for a bank. And our favorite Doogie Howser turned gay-in-real-life but plays hetero womanizer to a T Barney Stinson finally confesses his vulnerability to love by outing himself as someone in love with Robin. It's a beautiful mess that works for me, far more than what Friends did, actually, which turned out to be disappointing as I marathon watched it sometime ago. HIMYM has better writers, and more formidable characters. And I relate with their situations more. 

If you don't watch the show, don't worry. This is not a review or analysis of that. This is actually a musing, an amusing musing of episode 4-24. This is where Lily the preschool teacher drops words of sage advise to frustrated Ted. That maybe life has other plans for you, and even if you had your own plan, you sometimes have to junk it to listen to what the universe wants you to do. This theme resonated with me, big time.


I was just talking to someone this week about such plans in my own life. This was such a connection for me. To be in a certain point in your life and having many options, or having a feeling of being lost, but in a good way. I never realized that you could "get lost in a good way." But yes, it was pointed out to me this week that indeed, you could. You can. And you just have to embrace it. Like what I've always said, life could have waves but just try riding them. Surf the waves and they will take you to the shores that you aim for, or bring you to a shore totally new yet equally awesome as well. Trust the tide to do that. Trust the tide.

And I guess this applies to everything in life, to each and every sector that exists: career, job, love life, individuality, all those things. Like me, I've written that life rewrites at 40. Indeed, it does. I never imagined that life will provide me with new narratives that are familiar yet alienating at the same time, but still comforting to discover. It's always fascinating to try new things, or to mesh two old things and produce something newer. This is also happening. To not close doors that you once said you will never enter again, yet now that you kept it ajar, things just kept on entering, overflowing and overwhelming sometimes. Interesting. The journey really never ends. Just ride the waves and the waters will decide for you, and the weather will guide you towards the right decision. Or not maybe the right one, but the proper and smarter one, at a given point in time. I guess that's what the universe is sending me now, as a message, in a bottle that is known as season 4 episode 24. Strange, that. But still amusing, and more importantly, useful, at the same time.

Useful. Yes, that, it is. Who woulda thought, eh? Who woulda thought.  

It has always been like this for me. Since I was small, I have always taken some life cues and clues from pop culture. There are songs that speak of those that you cannot speak of, and there are storylines that reflect your outlook, and there are characters that act out bits and pieces of you. I guess that is why, even if I try to steer clear from it, pop culture and media always get me back, reel me in, get me hooked, and "force" me to contemplate on non-narrative things using their idiosyncratic narrative ways. And I guess this is why, no matter how much I say I want to leave this field I've long been in, it keeps drawing me back in, reeling me in, sometimes mercilessly. Oh well. Just where the tide takes me, man, just where the tide takes me. Right?

Right.
It always is... legen--wait for it--dary. 

 
Apir Barney!

Thanks to this episode, and this show, some "new old sparks" of enlightenment happened. Whether it's a reinforcement or a "Good going!" sign on the road, I'm not so sure. But what I'm sure of is that I should just trust the universe, because elements always conspire to bring me to better things -- even if they don't appear that way at the beginning. Trust the process, and have faith in the "lack" of clarity because, later on, when you zoom out, then you'll see the bigger -- and clearer -- picture. Just trust the process. 

Indeed, I am.

 No matter where life takes me, we always suit up. Somewhat. :)


1 comment:

  1. Girl, you made me watch my first episode of HIMYM, S04E24 that is. Your blog entry did it for me, despite my stubbornness to see it with everyone raving about the series and all. Huzzah!

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