Someone once told me, “You'll know you've made it when people start clapping.”
When I was younger, success was something that glittered. It was loud, and waiting just around the corner — something you could chase if you ran fast enough. I used to picture it like a finish line, glowing beneath the heat of youth. I wanted to be the first to arrive, the first to be noticed, and the first to be called extraordinary.
But the clapping stopped, and no one warned me about the silence after the sound of them faded.
Life really has a way of humbling you, ain't it? The world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows — someone once said that, and I didn’t understand it until it started to rain for real. Until the nights got longer and the noise in my head turned into questions no one could answer. All that push, and all that stretch, and yet it's still never enough. You hit, and the world hits back harder. I used to think strength meant never falling but now I know it’s in getting up, again and again, even when no one’s watching.
Once, I thought success had a shape — golden with ribbons and weight but now I see that it’s not a trophy, it’s the breath you take after crying quietly. It's the morning you get up even when no one’s watching. the winning that doesn’t make a sound.
I think that thought comes from that certain ache in growing up with films that teach you how to live before you even know what that means. Just like with Mr. Keating's favorite line, “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” But what does extraordinary mean when you’re young and unsure?
To live deliberately, to taste the marrow of life, even if it leaves you raw. To take the hits, as Rocky Balboa once said, and keep moving forward, as life is not about how hard of a hit you can give, it's about how much you can take and still keep moving forward, as that's how winning is done. It is not because you’re fearless, but because you’ve learned that staying down is worse than falling.
They said to reach for the stars yet no one said that it’s cold up there, and lonely too.
They said to be the best yet no one said that sometimes, it hurts to stay that way.
But the older I get, the more I realize that winning isn’t always about the next finish line. Sometimes, it’s about knowing when to stop swinging, about standing still long enough to see where you are, not just how far you’ve gone.
Because life, as Ferris Bueller once said, moves pretty fast, and if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you really could miss it. It isn’t just to seize the day, but to notice it — to pause, breathe, and realize that living deliberately doesn’t always mean chasing grand dreams. Sometimes, it’s just about being brave enough to exist as yourself.
Written by Czevie Sigue, Insight PH
Czevie Sigue, Insight PH is a dedicated campus journalist and contributor. Their insightful writing sparks meaningful conversations and keeps the community informed.
