Like it or not, life is a game. Whoever denies the truth, refuses to play, gets left on the side line. – Phil Knight, Shoe Dog

I was mesmerized by how life unfolds itself and presents us with its treasure.

I swiped someone right on Tinder early this year. Then he became my boyfriend, and he makes me believe that, maybe, ‘the one’ exists.

I talked to a young man in a little noodle shop in Vietnam. He showed me a book he read on the mountain top that day. He brought ‘The Alchemist’ to my life.

I met a man on the plane ride back from a backpacking trip. He became my mentor, and he brought me to a world where I rubbed shoulder swith royalty and ‘your excellencies’.

Then he asked, ‘what do you want in life?’

One simple question opened up a black hole that sucked me into series of self-reflection, self-doubt, self-questioning, and self-realization.

The struggle concluded with self-love.

In the midst of figuring out myself, I reconnected with a childhood friend whom I’ve wronged and never spoken for years.

I learned that:

We can rewrite our story by making different decisions. @isabellethye (Click to Tweet!)

I float, I travel, I see, and I feel.

Then I exit from the company that I co-founded. If this is a relationship, it came the time to let go of each other in order to thrive into the best of who we could be.

Who am I?

I got to learn it by detaching my life from everything else.

Without a company at my back, a job title, a career, family, friends, belongings and name; when I am just me, what do I stand for?

Have you ever wondered?

I guess there is no way of knowing except for believing in who we are.

I found myself most alive when I was traveling.

When you hit the road, every day is a new day; everything gives you a sense of wonderment.

I sat in ancient temples reminiscing lives passing through it. I watched a magnificent sunset on a sand dune and realized how small human beings appeared under the sun. I felt love flowing through me when I gazed into blue sky in a paddy field.

In those moments, there was no past or future, only now.

Life is really beautiful, and it has our back.

It puts you in excruciating struggle so that you build enough strength to steer your life. It pushes you to the corner so that you bounce back to be more than who you were.

The man who asked me what I want in life, he also let me see the gifts I have in me. I am forever grateful for a great teacher in life.

He asked me the question that changed my life – what do you really want?

Life would just slip if we are not aware that every moment is life. Life is finite, and it is now.

As the year approaches its end, I have nothing, and yet I have everything.

I am scared of a blank page, but I know all that I need to feel enough, happy, and successful is in me.

I am following a path that feels like my path. Even though I am not sure where it will lead, I am ready to find out.

Hey life, let’s play.

Isabelle Thye is a coffee enthusiast based in Malaysia. She co-founded a café consultancy business and started her own coffee label CHNO. Besides building her coffee business, Isabelle enjoys writing and backpacking around the world.

Image courtesy of Kelly Sparks.