Wish upon a Shooting Star

Have you ever wished upon a shooting star?

Shooting stars are meteors, which are pieces of space rocks that fall into Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in a flash of light. Although they can be as small as a grain of sand, they travel at incredible speeds (about 40,000 miles per hour). The friction they generate heats them up until they become incandescent making them glow in the night sky. This quick flash of light makes them look like shooting stars!

It's easy to dismiss wishing on a shooting star as a childish thing to do. But I'm wondering: when was the last time you sat in the grass and gazed at the stars? When was the last time you let your mind wander, not quite thinking of anything in particular, but just sort of drifting through thoughts? When was the last time you glanced up at the sky and thought to yourself, "Anything is possible?"

As we get older, it's now so easy to forget about that magical feeling. We spend our years being caught up in the chaos of life: making sure we are achieving all of our goals and staying on track to reach the next level. In our society, there are so many things vying for our attention—you know what I mean? So many things that can pull us away from being present and engaged with the universe around us.

I haven't wished upon a shooting star in a long time, and now I'm all grown up. My childhood is now behind me, and so are all those wishes. It became harder and harder for me to hold on to that sense of wonderment.

But then last night, I looked up at the stars again and saw that magical streak of light. For a moment, I was no longer just myself—I was part of something bigger: bold, bright, and bursting with possibility. All of those things I'd been chasing suddenly didn't seem so important anymore. In that moment, I became aware: there are bigger things than myself out there in the universe—and they're worth being a part of.  

In that magical moment, I remembered everything when I was a kid, I would go out in the rooftop with my cousins at night and look up at the stars, feeling so small and insignificant in the universe. We loved watching them twinkle and listening to the silence of the night. The sky was so wide and open, like an ocean of sparkling water. It felt like anything could happen in that space. We would talk about what we wished for while looking up at the stars. It was our escape from reality; our own little world. In every chance we’ve got, we'd make an earnest wish. Sometimes it was for more money or better grades; sometimes it was for my school to cancel classes, or for my crush to realize that she'd love me forever. There's something so tender and pure about the act of peering up from the earth and hoping that some benevolent higher power will grant you a single wish. It's as if we're all children, wishing for things we don't even fully comprehend yet. And I think that's part of what makes it so magical: the fact that it is so innocent, even still.

I miss those days when everything was fun, and every moment felt special somehow. I wish I could have that feeling again; being lost in a dream world full of possibilities and wonder. I've found that my ability to be amazed waxes and wanes over time. But whenever I feel like I'm losing touch with my inner child, all I have to do is look up at the night sky—and watch an incredibly bright celestial body streak across the darkness—to reconnect with him again.

People don't really talk about wishing on shooting stars anymore, or wonder if they're real—they just accept them as one of those unexplainable things you encounter as a kid. There's no need to feel bad about those wishes not coming true—it wouldn't matter if you wished on real stars or rocks in the sky because it's not like there's some sort of cosmic genie up there making all your dreams come true. What we should be doing is working hard to make our dreams come true—and that means putting in the work to get what we want.

Wishing on a shooting star is more than just a cute thing to do—it's our way of connecting with something really important: the cosmic universe. The stars are our way of seeing beyond the chaos of everyday life—and beyond our own lives, too. That's why they're also known as "fixed stars," because they remind us that there are things that never change. Whether you're having trouble at work, struggling with your relationships, or just plain feeling like the world is against you right now, take a moment to connect with the stars. It'll help you find your footing again—and maybe even help you make your dream come true.

Funny thing about wishes though: They never go away. They often just hide in places we don't even know exist anymore. And sometimes it takes something as simple as a falling star to remind us how to find them again. Maybe we shouldn't lose hope in the things we can't explain as adults because they don't seem to make any sense. Maybe there are still unexplainable things in life that we can still believe in. Perhaps miracles may exist!

So the next time you’ll see a shooting star, just remember that it’s okay if your wish doesn’t come true because you can make it happen yourself!