Achievements
For the longest time, we’ve had a trophy case in our dining room. Today, I looked at it for the first time in years. As I cleaned the trophy case and admired all the physical manifestations of our accomplishments, it made me realize how much my sister and I have achieved. She excelled in sports and martial arts. I excelled in academics. Together, we filled the entire display with trophies, plaques, ribbons, and pins. I’m really proud of how hard we have worked and appreciate our parents for supporting us.
At the same time, it makes me question what am I doing with my life now. Things changed, my goals and plans changed, I’ve changed. Have I accomplished anything recently? How do I measure success now?
Which also brings me to how weird the idea of awarding trophies and stuff is to me. As a kid, yeah it felt nice. But as an adult looking back, it’s like...what am I supposed to do with this? Yes, it was a nice token of my hard work. Yes, it is now a nice reminder of my accomplishments. But what? Do I keep it forever and let it collect dust? Does it lose meaning to the point where it may as well go in the garbage because it doesn’t bring me joy? I love sentimental gifts and mementos, but at the same time, at what point does it just become clutter?
I don’t really have a conclusion to tie everything together. I just felt like getting these thoughts out, and Tumblr seemed like a good place. I don’t even expect anyone else to read this. Maybe I’ll look back on this one day and have more insight.
