You Are Where You Need To Be

The butterfly effect states that,any occurrence,no matter how small or irrelevant,can change the course of the entire universe. The name "butterfly effect" comes from a story that a butterfly flapping its wings in Florida,an action which seems irrelevant,can cause a hurricane  to occur in China.

Ok so im sure by now you are wondering what butterflies have to do with being where you need to be.Lets dive into that. I used to have a lot of regrets about my life. I would beat myself up a lot about how i should have done some things different when i had the chance to,and that was the cause of some of my anxieties and depressions. I used to think, "if i had majored in Law instead of Computer Science,i would be like Harvey Specter from Suits and my life would be perfect",or "If i had decided to not support Arsenal as a kid,i wouldn't be enduring such heartbreak right now",etc etc etc. What i failed to take into account was that,had i done Law and not CS,i wouldn't have the awesome classmates i had, who i now call friends. I didn't take into account that had i decided not to support Arsenal,i wouldn't have learnt the virtue of patience and endurance in life. In short,i only looked at what positives the decisions i did not make were going to have an effect on my life,and never did i once think about the negatives those same decisions could have had on my life.

I came to the realization that life is now,life is the present. Life is about the decisions you take at this very moment. It is not about decisions that you did not take or decisions that you are yet to take. I realized that,life is what happened when i was too busy worrying and regretting. There was no point in me worrying myself to death about the past,something that i had no control of.It occurred to me that the reason i had those regrets was that,in my mind,i had created a vision of how things were going to turn out had a taken those decisions,failing to take into account negative events that could also have occurred as a result of that decision that i wished i had taken. That is the problem with regrets,we fail to think about the fact that,not everything was going to turn out the way we envisioned it to. We are always inclined to think only the positive effects that our decisions could have effected,and never the negatives.

Every single decision you have ever taken in your life,including infancy,has led you to where you are at this very moment.Think about the closest friend that you have.how did you guys meet?did you meet in a class in college?If you had decided to sit in a different seat the day you guys met,would you be best friends today?probably not. And that is exactly what the butterfly effect is about. Every single decision you take,no-matter how insanely irrelevant,can lead your life in a completely different course,and that is the beauty of life. I want you to really think about some of the major events that have occurred in your life,then think about the preceding events to that major event,no-matter how small. You will come to appreciate the beauty of the butterfly effect,how everything in life is exactly as it needs to be.

If you were following the news this past week,you would have probably come across the devastating bridge collapse in Genoa,Italy. One of the images that really struck me was one of a truck,having stopped right at the edge of the bridge before the collapse. And i thought to myself,if the driver had decided to be 5 minutes early to work,a decision that seemed to be good at that moment,he would have probably perished under the rubble of that fallen bridge. That is the thing about our decisions,we never know what domino effect they are going to cause and that unpredictability is part of what makes life so interesting. By having regrets,you are playing against that beautiful phenomena of life called unpredictability.What would be the whole point of life if we knew the consequences of all of our actions?Why would you carry on living if you knew your destiny?

I am the happiest i have ever been in my entire life,but i'm not any more successful than i was last year or the year before, when i was going through my darkest periods.I still haven't graduated varsity,i'm still struggling to get my business off the ground,i'm still broke,but i'm way much happier than i was last year because i decided to stop worrying,to stop regretting,and just live life. I realized that every single minute i spend above ground is a precious gift,and i am not going to waste that gift worrying about things that i have no control over. I realized that i cannot control the past,nor can i control the future,but i can definitely control the present,and that is what i chose to do. I decided that every day,i was going to live my life to the fullest,i was going to put my best effort into everything i do,i was going to make decisions that i think are right, so that i would not have any "what if" moments.

Regrets will give you nothing but a sense of failure as well as elevating your anxieties and depressions. The only thing you should do with the past is learn from it, and not worry yourself with "what ifs". You will never know the exact effect your decisions are going to have in your life,unless of course,you can steal the Time Stone from Thanos' gauntlet.The best thing you can do,which is the only thing you can do really, is to put on the best effort in everything you do,make the best decisions that you can,for whatever happens afterwards is not in your hands. Do what you feel is right,and even if it does not reap the desired effect,find solace in the fact that at that moment,it was the best decision you could make.

You were not meant to have that job instead of what you have now,you were not meant to have that fairy-tale instead of that heartbreak, you were not meant to have that life instead of this one. No,you were meant to be right here where you are at this very moment,that is the way of the universe. Why you are here is not a question i can answer,nor you,nor anyone else and stressing about it will not give you any answers just as regretting that you are here instead of there will not make you feel any better.Like a wise man once said, "stop worrying about what was and what could have been,and focus on what is,for at least with the present,you have some remote chance of altering your future,but with the past,its all gone with the wind".