Have you ever wondered how your life could have been different? Not as in “How could your life of been different” had you taken that math test instead of trying to hit on that cute girl in your class. I’m talking about “How could your life of been different” had you grown up on a different continent. Maybe if you had grew up, as you, but inside of London instead of Los Angeles or New York. This is something that I think about all of the time. I think about the possibilities that could have been. The path I have taken in life, so far, has led me to love Programming, Nascar, Coca-Cola and My Hookah. Not that it’s a bad thing or anything. I just wonder how my ethics could have been different.
I wonder how my life could have been different all the time due to a few things I see on a daily basis. When I’m at the mortgage company, I see a lot of people that come through our doors to apply for a mortgage. Refinance or purchase, they still need to apply. When I see some of these files, I see that they are working 2 or 3 jobs. What’s funny is that most of these people are wildly successful. It’s not like they are an illegal emigrant or anything. We don’t do those kinds of loans. These are just people that work very hard to get ahead in life. I see that they were born here, but raised in another country for a period of time. This is the reason I ask myself all the time “How could my life of been different.”
You Look Nice Today
I listen to this podcast that has since gone off the air. In this podcast called You look nice today, they talk about random funny things. One of the persons on the show was describing an instance of their life where they took one job but could have taken another. Another person on the show asked “Do you ever think about how your life could have been different”? That podcast alone, is what makes me think about this all the time.
The Good Vs. The Bad
Of course, the grass is greener on the other side. Yeah, I get it. What I’m talking about here is this. I wonder all the time: “If I grew up in London or Madrid, would I have become a programmer as well? Would I have become an architect? A Doctor? I mean, who knows right? It’s not like I’m saying that more people are successful because they grew up in a different place. I’m saying that I wonder what I could have been had I lived somewhere else. The other side to this is that I could of turned out way worse. I could of grown up in a city that is dependent on meth sales and gang wars. A city that requires you to join a gang or else you are an outcast. You look at the cities in Texas, that are close to the border of Mexico. There, you’re either in the Drug Cartels or you stay at home and bother no one in fear of retaliations. It’s like that in Columbia as well.
Then you see a country like India. Everything is so different there. You see something like women being treated poorly. You see a country where work is hard to find. You see a country where kids are becoming thieves on trains in order to make ends meat for their families. It’s something like those situations that makes me feel proud to have been born in a city like Reno, NV. Sure there are no huge scientific discoveries coming out of that town. There is also not a lot of shit happening there like what’s happening in India or Iraq.
Earlier Today
A woman that I work with said that she wanted to live in Italy. She wants to move there and give her family a totally different experience. I was talking to her and that’s what inspired this blog post. I told her that I think about moving somewhere new everyday. I wonder what it’s like to live in another country. I’m not a parent, but I do know that like 90% of all parents want what’s best for their kids. SO I think about, if I am going to have kids, where would I want them to grow up. Maybe it’s a small town in Indiana or Iowa. Sure they are small hick towns etc. It could give them a kick start in life though. Especially where a state like the ones I mentioned earlier, they have a much higher percent of kids graduating from high school and applying to go to a good college.
After talking to the woman I work with, I started thinking about another thing I think about a lot. I think about how many people wished they were where I am right now. Not in life, but my location. There are tons of people just dying to be here in Vegas. They want to be on the strip hanging out and seeing the sights. I know, because I wished that I could be in several other cities at one time. I’d love to be in London or Dublin right now. Right now, there are people there and they get to see some cool stuff.
I Really Have No Idea
I have no idea what would of happened if there was an instance of me growing up in another country. I have no idea what I would have become. All I know is that I love where I am and that I’m glad things are how they are.
I am 100% with you on this … and that, and have wondered (experienced) what type of person I am in different climates. In fact, I watched a guy on YouTube once who was [apparently] so sensitive to varying magnetic “pulls” [around the earth], that he would travel around looking for the place he … felt good.
When I was in the northwest – you can empathize, I was, well, I was a mope … sluggish … depressed. Sure, “… iI’s the gloomy clouds, the rain, the lack of vitamin D! …”, right? Not so sure.
When I would fly to Vegas, I would instantly awake; a friend of mine years ago dubbed me “Vegas Bigler” – who is awesome, and “Vancouver Bigler” – who sucked. Outright sucked.
Comparing Vegas to Texas, I/we have similar “days of sun” at least compared to the northwest. However, in Texas I veer towards being mad all of the time. Hence, why I was curious about other aspects besides that “lack of vitamin D” thing.
Back to the northwest – I was designing and doing CSS/HTML/SEO, but I **COULD NOT** maintain a daytime schedule. Ever. I also worked what I’ll call stupid jobs or rather below my skills set and I just left it at that … assembly line/manufacturing jobs, Petco, ran my own pressure cleaning business, etc. I was just not “feeling it”.
So, I “learned” to hate the northwest, as well as Texas and as someone else put it whom I was discussing this with at Work in Progress: “… Vegas is the place I hate the least! …”. Her words. She had lived in Italy – I believe, as well as east / west coasts and it came down to Vegas for her. For me, as well.
So, who we are, our environment, what we settle for, etc … changes immensely based on environment.
I think as far as the people aspect is concerned, in the northwest there always seemed to be an inability to thrive – people just seem to be down, seem to keep you down and it’s a vicious circle. Hence, meth use up there.
For me, Texas “people” are always F****** RIGHT and you are not; being pissed seems to be the order of the day there. Although, I would be “no where” without “Texas”. My clients are there.
Not sure about you Russ, but for me at least … I love being in a place I call “Not Texas” and “Not the Northwest”, but certainly like visiting the places for short periods of time.
I’ll end this by saying that southern Brazil has been on my mind for the last 8 years – have a “web guy” friend who left Connecticut for there and “lives like a king” on $2k per month. I, as I’m sure you as well, would be a proverbial “baller”.