Two roads diverged in the woods.
I retract that title. The woods contained a countless number of roads. And that is an allusion to the paths that we choose in our lives. While I do claim myself to be an adventurous person who is certainly not on the risk-averse side, my path in my life has been all but contrary. In fact, the path that I took is the one of the quintessential Singapore student. 4 years in Secondary School, 2 years in a Junior College, 2 years in the National Service and 4 years in a local university, and ended up taking a job in a big company. (Although I did have an interesting stint before this, but that would be a story for another time).
When I was young, most of the people that I knew within my social circle and the usernames on my Instagram feed were walking the same path as well. We all went to the same school, studied mostly the same subjects, and had the same goal, which was to gain admission to a prestigious institution further down Singapore’s education food chain. Life and conversation topics revolved around the similarities in our lives.
As we got older, the paths that we walk slowly begin to diverge as we gain more freedom to make our own choices. The first time this happened was when we had to take a choice between our post secondary education institutions. The second time this happened was when guys had to enter National Service and girls began their tertiary education immediately. The third time was when we started exploring our different interests inside and outside of our university education. And the fourth and probably last time is taking place now as we graduate from our tertiary institutions. With a countless number of career choices, the recognition from parents that they can no longer dictate but advise their child’s choices, and the financial power that comes from having a job, almost nobody walks thte same paths anymore
People of my age have took gap years, took leave of absences, worked overseas, opened their own businesses, created startups, chose alternative career choices, conquered insane challenges, inked tattoos, gotten engaged, BTO-ed and some even had children. The divergence will only get further with time, and likewise, our conversations will now revolve around the differences rather than the similarities in our lives. Eventually and naturally, people will spend more time on the commitments along our new paths in life, be it their future life partners, their families,, or their new ventures.
My life up to this point has been on the straight path up until now, and as I look at the diverging paths of everyone, I can’t help but imagine how my life would be if I was walking along theirs. To imagine if I was on my way to building a life with somebody else, or if I was on opening up my own online business, or if I was training to climb Mount Everest. I cannot help but feel a strange sense of foreignness as I imagine being in their shoes. I have taken too much comfort in the stabilty and familiarity of the path that I am on, and anything else in my mind feels risky and alien. Nevertheless, I will remain open-minded, and I believe that a time will come for me soon when I have accumulated a sizable amount of financial savings to try something otherworldy and memorable.