My Last Day Being 20
By: Caleb Labord
Tags: Inspirational, Self Improvement, Growing Up, Inspiration, Life

It’s a weird feeling knowing you’re at the end of something.

I’ve been moving through the motions of day to day life so much so that my birthday kind of snuck up on me. The fact that it’s actually tomorrow is insane as I hadn’t even given it much thought the past few weeks leading up to it.

I’ll be 21. That’s weird to even type.

I know a lot of people that do birthday countdowns and huge celebrations but that’s just never really been my thing. To each’s own ya know?

The funny thing about having another birthday is that you can’t go back. You can never be the age of the past again. It’s but a passing vapor and a memory just like the age you are now will be.

I haven’t really thought too much about tomorrow. I’m sure there will be some birthday posts from family etc. and those are always nice to read. I’ll probably go out to eat and post something about the experience on IG as well. That’s honestly all I really have lined up at the moment. It’ll be VERY tame by the looks of it haha.

All in all, my last day of being 20 years old wasn’t anything epic or wild like in an adventure story but it was more or less pretty calm and reflective to some degree.

In reflecting on how far I’ve come in this journey I’m happy to have made it and thankful for the people who’ve made this journey what it has been. I’m thankful to God for keeping me amidst my many, many, many (insert about 20 more “many’s), many mistakes. I’ve come to learn that mistakes are apart of the process though and even if you count yourself out, God does.

At 20 I’ve also learned to question my own thinking patterns and the negative cycles I often go through. I’ve spent a lot of my life inside of my head rather than out of it and as much as it has helped me in thinking through certain situations and responses, it’s also been to my detriment in productivity and creating meaningful things.

I’ve learned to see people as people and recognize my own demons. We as a society often complain about “the other” and that could be in a race or even with the other gender. I see women and men complain about “How all women are like this...” and “All men are like this…” when in reality we’re all guilty of doing one thing or another that isn’t healthy or productive in relationships.

In regards to race, I’ve recognized that we are all just souls placed into different colored units and we’re as much capable of evil in whatever color or tone our unit is. Our bodies and skin tones are just different makes and styles like cars and they have different paint jobs as well but when you strip all of that away it’s a car. When you strip the body away you’re just a soul and I don’t think a lot of people are ready to see that. What I’m saying isn’t anything new but God showed that to me in a profound way and I feel it’d be nice if we all looked at each other that way. There is no evil race. Only souls that were placed in a body that you very well could’ve been in had God willed it.

The media profits off of division though and blindly leads people into hatred of one another over the hatred of the lies and division caused by outlets who thrive off of our division with one another.

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In the past year, I’ve also come to look at the world differently. Nothing is as clean-cut as it used to be when I was a kid. I used to just see things as very black and white so I lacked the insight into how the world really works and how things have always been.

To be more specific I’m now realizing just how much everyone else is struggling with their own battles and that no one’s life is exactly how it may seem on the outside. It’s easy to look at a person’s life and think they must be living large and in charge but reality is often very different than the world portrayed on social media and how you’ve imagined them to be in your head.

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I’ve met a lot of incredible people during my time as a 20 year old and had lots of amazing conversations that have deepened my insight as a young man.

I helped build a roof with my grandpa, I took my first steps into Real Estate and continued in Branding with my aunt, expanded in my filmmaking style, and became a full time Aquarist who avidly listens to Hotel Pools (CHECK HIM OUT).

Within this time period I’ve also reunited with many old friends from my past which has been enlightening to see people grow and blossom into who they’ve been called to be.

There’s been some fun adventures with friends, a few crushes, some tough days, some amazing days and everything in between as well.

The biggest milestone of course was releasing my 1st book, A Letter to My Fatherz: Finding Peace In the Midst of Absence.

Seeing the feedback for that has been amazing and I’m thankful to God for the people he’s used it to impact and show his face too.

My goal heading into 21 is to leave that number having accomplished new heights, new milestones and be even better than now.

I’m not exactly sure what all lies in the future but I’m optimistic and looking forward to following God and his call on my life in this next phase of my life.

It really is impossible to know what will lie ahead but I choose to head into it without fear and with optimism that God orders my steps. With that in mind, I cannot fail. To fail would be to disregard the progress, even if small, that’s already been made amidst my many mistakes and the greater things that lie ahead in rising above them.

Cheers to the future!