Introspection
What career would you have chosen, what kind of family would you have liked, who is the man / woman you would have married, what kind of life would you have liked to live? We encounter these questions at least once in our life. Often we answer these queries with what we think would have been the best career that would’ve suited us, the finest man / woman we believe could’ve been the best partner for us, the most comfortable kind of life we would’ve wanted and would benefit those that rely on us.
The what if’s or could have been’s, we contemplate on these topics one time or another in our life. These inquiries however, trigger deeper and more introspective questions, once we take a closer look at our answers. Why didn’t we choose the most fitting career, the right person or the appropriate kind of life in the first place? When, how and why did we sell out on our ideals? If we respond with a situation or a person that is totally unlike the current circumstances we are in, does it mean we are discontent and settled for something less?
We adapt to our real life situations as we see fit and somewhere along the line, we compromise our ideals in favor of a more realistic approach to our life’s needs. For instance, most of us guys in our youth would have wanted to be a pilot, but as we grow older we either are not physically gifted to fit a pilot’s bill (height & vision wise) or we don’t have the financial means to pursue a pilot’s course. This also holds true for those of us who would’ve wanted to be a doctor or an actor but have neither the mental aptitude nor the talent to pursue this career path. Same thing with the girl next door type we would have loved to marry, either she doesn’t have the personality we are compatible with or maybe we are too intimidated to even make the first move. It goes the same for the hunk-macho dude who turns out to be a playboy or gay. Won’t we all like to live a life of a royalty? The only requirement for this is that you have to be closely related to any living king or queen. As I see it, we didn’t really abandon our ideals or settled for something less, we just grew up and embraced reality.
We live with what we have and should make the most out of it. Hanging on to lost dreams would just make us bitter and resentful. We may not have the career we would’ve liked or be married to the ideal person or live the life we fantasized about but we can still improve our performance in our chosen field, enhance our relationships and enrich our lives. It’s just matter of perspective, if we focus on what can still be done instead of what should have been, our view on the life we have, would be much better. After all,We can not be thankful for that which we do not acknowledge.
