2011 Recap - Extraordinary

“2011, 2010 has given me so much that I don't know what to ask/expect from you anymore. Surprise me.”

We rarely measure changes in our lives by the day. If we think about how we spend the 24 hours of each day, it’s pretty obvious why.

Firstly, we spend about a third of it asleep. Secondly, we usually just do routine stuff. It’s not every day that we do something different or out of character that yields a considerable amount of change in our personality – or our future. But when you lump 365 days together, we see clearly what difference a year makes.

I said in my 2010 memoir that “as a whole, 2010, was one of the best years I’ve had in recent memory”. Imagine my delightful surprise when 2011 turned out to be an even more fantastic year for me. Boy, was I surprised indeed!

It’s easy to pinpoint the two biggest highlights of my 2011: finally graduating from college and finally getting a job. Although I expected these two milestones to happen this year, I never imagined the wonderful “bonuses” that came along when they happened: 1) my college diploma came with a “Best Thesis” award and 2) I got hired by a very prestigious multi-national company – despite my very blemished scholastic record.

I couldn’t be any more satisfied with the current status of my career. I mean, given the multiple mishaps in my academic life, I predicted that while I breezed through sealing the deal for my college diploma, I thought that jumpstarting my career would prove to be more challenging. But in the end, my golden streak with opportunity has not yet ended and I landed a job that appreciated my skills and experience. Of course, I recognize that the level of my career is hardly at par with my contemporaries but this start was way more than what I had hoped for and what I had expected I deserved.

All the other wonderful changes and highlights of my year were made possible by these two biggest ones. I am deeply thankful to God for making all these happen this year. In my darkest, most tumultuous moments in the past decades, I mulled over the reasons why I always had to stumble and why I couldn’t seem to get a break. As difficult and challenging it was, I kept my faith and believed in my heart that someday, I will understand why. Well, I think that “someday” has finally come.

Of course, one can argue that who knows, I could be in a much better place right now if all those bad things had not happened. But if there’s one thing that my faith in Him has taught me, I should never question the wisdom in His plans for me. (I don’t mean to be preachy, but I just want to share that that is what fuelled my strength and patience in enduring all these years).

2011 was truly a wonderful beginning to the current chapter of my life. Albeit delayed, I believe that this is what makes my story quite extraordinary, don’t you think? Extraordinary things happen to extraordinary people. And although there are times that “extraordinary” can be quite unfavorable, I like to believe that I am made of extraordinary stuff that allows to make the most out of any situation – extraordinary or not.

I was a daydream

Quiet and unseen

I lived in stories but inside I kept a mystery

Nobody's darling

Flying in perfect circles just for company

And now I'm ready 

And now I'm ready

And now I'm ready to be extraordinary
~"Extraordinary" by Mandy Moore