The Illusion
Of
Distance
by: Ulysses Ybiernas ♦ July 11, 2008
I used to run after distant light, only to find it slipping away. Now I move forward with purpose, grounded, steady, and real.
As I sit quietly at my desk, a question rises from somewhere deeper than thought, something almost unsettling in its honesty: Who have I become?
The days, the months, the years… they no longer feel distinct. They blur together into one long, relentless current, carrying me forward whether I am ready or not. And still, even in this motion, I find myself searching, restless, driven, reaching for something I cannot quite define.
For a long time, I ran toward a distant shimmer. It felt like a promise shaped into light—an imagined rainbow stretched across the horizon, whispering of fulfillment, purpose, and recognition. I chased it with everything I had. But no matter how far I went, no matter how close it seemed at times, it remained just out of reach, beautiful, captivating, and painfully intangible.
Only now do I understand: it was never something I could hold.
It was an illusion dressed as direction. A mirage born from longing, sustained by hope. And strangely enough, accepting that does not feel like loss. It feels like clarity.
Because somewhere along the way, something in me changed.
I no longer feel the same urgency to chase what disappears as I approach it. Instead, I feel drawn, quietly but firmly, toward something different. Something grounded. Something real. A path that does not dazzle from afar, but endures underfoot.
The world teaches us that rainbows are symbols of hope, proof that beauty can follow even the harshest storms. But there is a quiet truth they do not often mention: if you spend your life running after light in the distance, you risk never noticing the ground you are already standing on. You miss the life that is unfolding in the present tense, steady and unremarkable as it may seem.
So today, I make a decision that feels both simple and profound.
I stop chasing what cannot be reached.
I turn instead toward what is already here.
Clear. Real. Achievable.
And for the first time in what feels like a long while, I am no longer pursuing something that fades the closer I get.
I am walking toward something true.
“Rainbows appear after storms, beautiful and breathtaking, but they were never meant to be chased. Just when you think you’re close enough to touch them, they vanish. Stop running after what is fleeting, rather, start moving toward what is real.”
© 2008 ET PLUS . articles · All Rights Reserved | My Office Diaries