Hey! I think there are so many rabbit holes and hypoteticals I could go down that would bufferfly effect to change the entire outlook of my life. Many of which are beyond my control.
As you know I've lived in many different cities in my life - London (Ontario), Toronto, Kunming, ShenZhen, Hong Kong, Vancouver and most recently Toronto (again!). I'm sure moving to all these different cities are carefully thought out decisions by my parents, but it's not like I had much input on them, yet they changed my life. If we never moved back to Asia, I would have grown up in a complete different culture. If my dad never pursued higher education (he was the first in the family to do so), I have probably grown up in rural China. There are just so many what ifs you can make.
The most recent example of this kind of butterfly effect I can think of is my move back to Vancouver for boarding school. This was in 2019/20. My mom urged me to apply to a school overseas as an insurance policy in case the protests in Hong Kong went out of hand. I applied to one school without really knowing much about it, and truth be told, I didn't even want to get in. I enjoyed the comfort of being in the environment I was in the past 10 years. During this time many of my close friends (you included) have also decided to study overseas, many of their parents (Bryan, Casey, Andrew) also talked to my parents about this decision. Had you guys not choose to do so, boarding schools wouldn't have been something my mom was thinking about, and I probably wouldn't have left Hong Kong knowing that my friends are still here.
Let's just say the protests never happened, and you guys never left Hong Kong. My life probably looks different. I probably would have graduated in Hong Kong, probably would have gotten into different universities. Without repeating a year of high school when I moved, I might consider taking a gap year. Who knows what would've happened if I chose to do a gap year.
Because the possibilities are endless, I don't see much point in dwelling in the past beyond doing it as a fun exercise. It's truly crazy to me how different our lives work out in the most mysterious ways. Just as you can hypothecise how much better your life can be had x, y or z gone your way, it is just as remarkable that everything worked out for us to have what we have. I say we should cherish that.
Love this movie! What would you say is your Forrest Gump story?
Hey! I think there are so many rabbit holes and hypoteticals I could go down that would bufferfly effect to change the entire outlook of my life. Many of which are beyond my control.
As you know I've lived in many different cities in my life - London (Ontario), Toronto, Kunming, ShenZhen, Hong Kong, Vancouver and most recently Toronto (again!). I'm sure moving to all these different cities are carefully thought out decisions by my parents, but it's not like I had much input on them, yet they changed my life. If we never moved back to Asia, I would have grown up in a complete different culture. If my dad never pursued higher education (he was the first in the family to do so), I have probably grown up in rural China. There are just so many what ifs you can make.
The most recent example of this kind of butterfly effect I can think of is my move back to Vancouver for boarding school. This was in 2019/20. My mom urged me to apply to a school overseas as an insurance policy in case the protests in Hong Kong went out of hand. I applied to one school without really knowing much about it, and truth be told, I didn't even want to get in. I enjoyed the comfort of being in the environment I was in the past 10 years. During this time many of my close friends (you included) have also decided to study overseas, many of their parents (Bryan, Casey, Andrew) also talked to my parents about this decision. Had you guys not choose to do so, boarding schools wouldn't have been something my mom was thinking about, and I probably wouldn't have left Hong Kong knowing that my friends are still here.
Let's just say the protests never happened, and you guys never left Hong Kong. My life probably looks different. I probably would have graduated in Hong Kong, probably would have gotten into different universities. Without repeating a year of high school when I moved, I might consider taking a gap year. Who knows what would've happened if I chose to do a gap year.
Because the possibilities are endless, I don't see much point in dwelling in the past beyond doing it as a fun exercise. It's truly crazy to me how different our lives work out in the most mysterious ways. Just as you can hypothecise how much better your life can be had x, y or z gone your way, it is just as remarkable that everything worked out for us to have what we have. I say we should cherish that.
Thank you for your question Chandra!
David