hAy, look at the sun!

Awakened by the sound of my cellphone beeping, I decided to check who in the world sent me a message at 5:00 in the morning. Well, it turned out to be my aunt, with the message: "Make hay while the sun shines!" I must have already heard this idiom a thousand times and might have interpreted it a hundred different ways in the past but considering how early it was, of course, I wasn't exactly in the mood to take time to ponder nor reflect on it, so being still half awake at that time, I just clicked delete and went right back to sleep.

Fast forward to two and a half hours later, I found myself wide awake and finally ready to begin my day. Following my usual routine, I checked on my cellphone for any unread messages or missed calls. As I was browsing through it, I began to hastily remember my aunt's early morning message. "Whatever! How is that applicable to me?" I thought to myself as I was getting ready for work as though shrugging it off as something ridiculous.

Apparently, I did not convince myself well enough to stop thinking about it because somewhere along trying to survive another boring day at work, I suddenly caught myself thinking about what it really meant to make hay while the sun shines. Well, it wasn't because I could not comprehend the obvious but it was more of finding a way to make sense out of what it meant and making it more personal.

I probably must have thought about it all day that I barely noticed it was already time to go home. "Three more days before the weekend," I half-jokingly told one of my colleagues before signing out and taking off. While on my way home, I started my usual daily reflection of how my day went and unsurprisingly, I could not remember anything remarkable. Although, I was quite disappointed with myself for such an unproductive day, I was still very thrilled about the fact that the day went by quickly without me noticing it.

As I lie awake in bed, getting ready to call it a night, I still could not escape thinking about my aunt's message that morning. After deciding to give it much thought, I finally figured out its significance in my life. It suddenly dawned on me that I was living life as though I was waiting on something great to happen and might have failed to recognize certain opportunities that I may have come across with. How can I possibly make hay when I barely even notice that the sun does shine? The more time I spend thinking about it, the more I think of my mundane life as wasted time. How did I manage to live in oblivion all these years?

I think that more than the quote's obvious meaning of striking while the iron is hot, it is about cherishing every moment of our lives because in every second lies an opportunity to lead a better life, make our dreams come true and touch people's lives. Although, I still do not know what to make of this realization, I now find myself looking forward to making the most out of every sunrise while awaiting golden opportunities that would come my way.