Have you ever thought about rushing things? Like graduating early? Or getting rich early? I was once the type of person that thought about the future too much that I forgot the moment – the present.

“Take your time.”
“No pressure, breathe”
“Take it slow, calm down”

Hearing these phrases made me stop and think about the moment itself. Two days ago, I met someone I saw on television. He’s a journalist, an iconic anchor. Whenever I watched TV before, I always thought “Wow, I want to be like them fast.” The meet and greet was
unexpected.

Just like it was an unexpected conversation. “Then you would be wearing suits,” he said, referring to us working as journalists in the future.
“I would love to wear a suit one day,” I replied.
He looked at me and said, “I’d say don’t rush things.” He said that if I climbed up faster, I would miss the things in the middle. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the moment. And he’s right. Timelines are just ways of planning things you like at the moment, but they are not real.

Gen Z calls it CAP. Timelines are just a tool to measure the progress of a project, but it won’t predict your future. As a child, I recall being asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And I remember drawing a uniform with a stethoscope and pasting a cut-out photo of my head on the paper, writing the words “I want to be a nurse, like my mom.” Honestly, I don’t blame my younger self for dreaming to be a nurse, however, spoiler alert, I didn’t take nursing, and medical things are not coming up in my mind at all. In fact, I hate blood.

This anecdotal experience is an example of a timeline I thought would match me a few years later. But as time passed, things changed, like how I dress, communicate, my physique, and even my thinking. Many things have changed in my 22 years of living. I have grown to
understand the importance of self-care, self-love, and taking risks. I have come to realize that life is unpredictable and continuously evolving and that we must be ready to adapt and embrace change. I have learned to appreciate every moment, no matter how small.

A few months ago, while cleaning my room I found an old box full of stuff I got from the Philippines. I saw my old project. A polka-dot notebook that contained my 10-year plan at 16. It’s a project we made in 10th grade. With the same context of “what I want to be in the
future,” this time, I had to write my plans every year on each leaf of the page. In that, I saw how I wanted my life to be perfectly planned. I read the notes I had, one mentioning the fact that I should finish college at the age of 22. Ironically, I’m now 22 and still in college. I’m
graduating next year though, so calculating the real age to graduate — I’ll be 24 by then.

On another page, I also wrote the age I wanted to get married at that time. Guess what age I thought was the right age to marry? 27. That is too young for me now, but at that time I believed it was the BEST age to start a family. However, as my views changed at 22, the
thought of getting into a marriage at the ripe age of 27 is insane for me. I don’t think I’ll be ready by then. What about mortgages? I don’t even know how to manage them. Or even paying taxes — they cause me headaches. So, if you’re going to ask me, what is the right
age to get married? I would say whenever I am ready. Whatever age. As long as it’s the right person and the right time.

Whatever the case may be, I believe there is no such thing as a timeline because we all have different struggles. Some people walk faster than we do, some take it slow, while some just stay at their own place and take their own steps when the right moment comes.
Everyone has their own journey and moves in their own time. We are all on our own paths and need to respect each other’s choices. I know that from my own experience, as I’ve seen my classmates go forward and graduate earlier than me, in hindsight, maybe my own moment will come along soon.

Sara Teasdale, an American poet, wrote: “You will recognize your own path when you come upon it because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need.”

I was thinking that if I got home earlier, I couldn’t have talked to CNN’s John King himself. Those wise words about not taking things “too fast” but also not giving up on our ambitions but taking things slowly just proved to me that timelines are not real. His words have been with me since then, reminding me to be patient and enjoy time.

That moment changed my view on life and the importance of taking things one step at a time. I’m still trying to apply his advice to my day-to-day life, and it has made me a lot calmer and more relaxed. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have talked with him that day.

Timelines are just a tool to measure the progress of a project, but it won’t predict your future. Focusing too much on a timeline can lead to setting unrealistic expectations or feeling overwhelmed. It’s important to keep the big picture in mind and to remember that success is not defined by how quickly you can reach a goal, but by how well you can achieve it.

This was written by our contributing writer, Hannah Daygo. You can find her on Instagram @hnnhdyg