Thursday 3 November 2011

11. The things that came to be

Many choices in my life have made me the person I am today, the person laying on his bed in the early hours of the morning, dwelling on these thoughts which you’re reading now. Choices cannot be changed. Three years ago, I made one of the biggest choices in my life, and that choice was to go to University.

University was always a farfetched goal for me. I never got the A-Levels I wanted. I was kicked out of school because I chose to be obnoxious, irritable, arrogant and lazy. But I found a way to get in to University and I had two choices before me:

  1. Work my way up the corporate ladder in some dead end company.
          
    OR
  2. Fly from the nest and join academia once more.
I obviously chose the latter. Would that have been your choice? That one choice has changed my life forever. I wouldn’t have met some of the most amazing people which are in my life today. I wouldn’t have learned so much, gained knowledge, or be in the U S of A. But all that can be balanced and tainted with making “enemies” and partial regret. You win some, you lose some, right?

Anyway, academically speaking, I think I have perhaps wasted some of my life. I have always wanted to study archaeology, ever since “Meet the Ancestors” was aired on the BBC in 1998, presented by Julian Richards. I was a young boy, aspiring to be an archaeologist. I remember going to my local library and reading every book they had on Ancient Egypt. I even wrote down the recipe to make "Eesh baladi" or "Egyptian Local Bread". I never got around to making it though. But I made the choice to go to University which doesn't offer archaeology. A regret, perhaps.

Now I’m torn by what to do… Do I give up on my degree and pursue my love of archaeology? Or do I suck up my pride; bite my tongue and power through this degree? Everything falls down to choice.

Maybe I’m having a midlife crisis… at 23 years old? I hope I don’t die at 46, fuck… I don’t think I’ll even know what I’d really want to do at 46 years old. The other day, a good friend of mine told me I have the “academic bug” and I think he’s right. I want to learn so much, I want to learn everything.

A digression:

I’d like to mention that you have to take the good with the bad. It’s obvious you have to. You have one life to live, all the love to give and not a lot of time to action everything you’d ever want to do. So let me give you a piece of advice, take it or leave it, that’s up to you. That’s your choice.

Wake up, plan your day, do something different, something you’d never think of doing. Make that choice. Don’t stop whatever you do. Your choice may be “good” or “bad”, but good and bad choices are be perceived differently by every individual. Who are you to judge? Who am I to judge? You can never make everyone happy. Do what you need to do. Never let people or money get in your way, it will only make you sad. Never say “what if?” just do. And remember, you always have a choice. 

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