Tides of Time: Measuring Life in Waves, Not Years
- lilyanalopez04
- Apr 22, 2025
- 2 min read
The Ocean never announces its next move. Sometimes crashing fast and other times slow. The inconsistency is both hectic and mesmerizing. I’ve been thinking about how I measure time, comparing myself to others by age regardless of other elements at play. Growing up, everybody my age shared a common timeline. We learned to read in the same grade, got our licenses at the same age, constantly advancing with my friends, all at the same time as them. This is the first time in my life that there’s no timeline to follow. Being in my 20s is such an odd place to be, with some of my friends getting married or going to graduate school while others have never left home or had a partner. It’s hard not to compare my timeline to my 20 year old peers but I remember that we’re all riding our own waves.
I started thinking differently about time. I reflect on situations thinking about how I handled them as a 16 year old, criticizing my mom for how she handled things as a 36 year old. Instead of thinking in terms of age, I’ve come to understand we were both experiencing the situation in 2022 and the situational factors of 2020 and 2021 were shared, giving us just about the same wisdom to go about what life threw our way. Age is only a piece of the puzzle when we were in the same house, with the same surrounding family and ultimately in the same era of our life. We couldn’t control the wave coming, but we both learned to ride it. Age means nothing. Time means nothing. We’re all riding waves of unpredictability, with our own transformations crashing into shore.
Waves move through everyone differently but they always have a rhythm. My close friend, Meghan inspired this entry as she finds comfort in the phrase “happiness comes in waves.” Not only is she one of the most optimistic people I know, but she’s the friend who takes me surfing! I think this phrase can be attributed to any and every other phase or feeling. Creativity and confidence comes in waves. Loneliness and insecurity comes in waves. There’s so much comfort behind everything coming in waves because even when the set drags me under, being tossed around like seaweed, it's just a wave and the tide always shifts.
Journal Entries to take home:
What have you learned from the last wave you came out of? What wave are you in right now?
Wow. Lilyana. This is excellent. It really made me think of The Waves I have faced in life. Last year was a Long wave of " being patient while I healed from Yet Another foot surgery." Now it is a wave, possibly a small one ,yet still a wave. I am dealing with the fact these surgeries are not going to work. My Next wave will involve Accepting, dealing and Conquering these challenges. Thank you so much for your Awesome thoughts. Love you tons My Sweet Lily. Keep writing !!
Loved reading this! It made me think about life right now compared to what I thought being 20 would be like when I was 16 and the challenges I’ve faced, new relationships I’ve entered, and new opportunities that have come my way. Things feel more weighted now in ways and there’s this underlying fear of not being successful in life as I watch my peers accomplish things, get big girl jobs and progress in life. It really motivates me to want to achieve more in context to my pursuits and interests while watching my peers progress in different ways in their life.
reading this made me spiral in the best way possible. absolutely love this take on handling life’s situations. doing the journal entry rn.
I love every second of this post. This is one of the best viewpoints on life that I have ever heard of and honestly needed a refresher of the little things in life that matter more than the big. The ocean and it's waves are how to live and now everything feels a bit more simple.
This post is such a beautiful way of explaining the way I view the meaning of life. Waves are such a beautiful and literal metaphor of life, and I think being able to understand the concept can help change your mindset. I think you worded this concept in such a beautiful and comprehensive way for people to understand, no matter what wave they're on! I'm grateful to have been your inspiration for this awesome post! I love riding waves with you literally and figuratively!