Seventeen to forty

I am young, and have stars in my eyes

I need to work hard, and that’s no surprise

I know academic excellence shall pave the way

For a better future that I strive towards every day

I should have my life figured out- I am seventeen

My admission essay should spell out what I have not yet seen-

I should have a clear vision of my future, that’s expected

Being competitive is a trait I have perfected

An Ivy league education followed by a six-figure salary

Are prerequisites to being successful and happy

Ambition and drive I think I have in plenty

A prosperous life for me they should guarantee..

**

My fortieth birthday I celebrate today

 

That ambitious adolescent has come a long way

That driven girl of yester-years did achieve

Her professional goals- what is generally perceived

As success, I think I can claim I have in hand

Yet the parameters of happiness, I now understand

Are very different from what I thought they would be

As a seventeen year old aspiring for a college degree

The competitive streak that I had in me

Was not conducive for happiness, I now see

To excel at everything I had been striving for throughout

Be it work, or being a supermom- even at the risk of burnout..

Turning forty, however, has made me evaluate

What I really want from my life, on my plate

I have stopped competing with others around me

I’m trying to focus on my passions, what makes me happy…

 

By the way, the girl who at the age of seventeen believed

Her life was figured out, at forty, is still trying to figure out her life indeed!