Have you ever noticed...?

If you ever decide to go for a long walk down a road I can almost guarantee that if you walk long enough you will come across a fork in the road. I can also be almost as certain that you will not come across a spoon or a knife in the road. I suppose some truck drivers are unlucky enough to find jack-knives but they generally don't like the experience. Makes me wonder who puts those stupid forks there and why they don't match them with spoons and knives so that people could have picnic's along their path.

On a more serious note people tend to think that their lives will follow a straightforward path. Indeed if you were to ask me in high school what my life would look like in the future I can guarantee you that I wouldn't describe my current situation! After getting my University degree I had very simple goals:

• Buy a house
• Save money
• Work part time
• Play lots of video games and watch lots of anime

Hmmmm.... and I suppose I would have said I'd like to read novels as well.

If you asked what type of house? A small one level rancher with two bedrooms and a den.

However, I guess you could say I picked up a bunch of different forks along the way.

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Getting Forked

Now when forks come up everything changes. Just look at STEEM. It came across one hard fork and it became HIVE overnight! Life can be just like that. Of course they aren't literal forks but just big choices in life.

At 18 I had a choice : Public or Private University.
I chose private and it cost me

At 21 I had a choice : Try to become a Doctor (low chance) or Pharmacist (high chance)
I chose to become a pharmacist

At 24 I had a choice : Move to a small town for higher pay or stay in the city for low pay
I chose a small town

At 29 I had a choice : Get married or stay single

At 31 I had a choice : Work in Canada or work in the USA

Of course the biggest change in my life happened 21 years ago (roughly) when I had my first son. That's when I made the choice to give up childish things like video games and do my best to be a father. That fork in the road changed my life a lot.

Still the same person, but with new glasses

When I was 9 years old I got glasses for the first time. My vision was 6/20 (I could only read 6 letters on the chart). Getting new glasses? I could see blades of grass. I could see leaves on trees and I could see faces for the first time. I could also read things the teacher wrote at the front of class. That made life so much easier! Of course I was still the same person as always but my grades improved.

Going through life and going through the different choices is very similar to getting new glasses. I'm still the same old person I always was...but I see the world through a new lens. I saw the world differently when I went from being single to being a husband. I saw the world differently when I became a father. Now that I'm older and wake up every morning to different aches and pains I see the world with yet a different lens.

But here is a little thing my mom told me that has proven to be true. My mind still thinks I'm the same person I was at 18. Just trapped in the body of an old man.

If my younger self met me? Sure he would recognize me. I's still enjoy much of the same music. Enjoy the same video games and anime. Still enjoy silly jokes, sci-fi and fantasy shows and so much more. I'd recognize myself in an instant although I might wonder where the extra weight and wrinkles came from. However my life? My younger self would wonder at how far I'd come and also be confused over why I made many of the choices I did. He would probably take one look at my car and wonder if I was totally crazy.

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Cherishing the forks I picked up

A few days ago I was walking with my wife and she wondered why I became a Pharmacist when I really enjoy talking about financial products, investing and money way more than Pharmacy. She asked why I didn't become a financial analyst, accountant banker, investment broker or something like that. I smiled and told her simply. Because I wasn't the same person at 18 as I am now. Every choice I made, every "fork" along the path of my life has led me to where I am. Of course if I knew then what I know now I would have made different choices.

But I didn't

I was young. There was no internet. I had never been exposed to money or investing Times were different and my viewpoints on life were different.

At the end of the day the choices I have made had turned me into who I am for better or worse. I've chosen my forks and I know where they have led me. Could things have turned out very differently with just a few different choices? Of course. Do I lament the fact I didn't make those choices differently? Nah. I know where I am but could only speculate where I could be. Honestly? I could be doing a whole lot worse than I am now. Why not just cherish the choices and cherish where I am today?

At the end of the day? Chasing what could have been won't make me happy so why bother? My old self never knew and couldn't even comprehend the forks that would come in my life and I guess that's what makes it interesting....

And that's my take on the Hive Learners prompt "Would my old self recognize the current me".

Thanks for reading this far and if you feel like leaving feedback, well, I always love seeing things in my replies.

Have a great day...

.....hopefully without too many things forking it up :)

Final note: All images from Dall-e.