Plot Twist

Succinct version: What are some things in your past that have come back to help - or hurt - you now in ways nobody could have predicted?



Long version:
Life is full of plot twists. What are some of yours?

They say Steve Jobs was so successful because he was in the right place at the right time insisting on the right thing. He insisted on the Mac computer fonts looking a certain way because of his background in calligraphy. And because of his insistence on certain fonts, the Mac became popular for people who typed documents... remember when people used computers mostly for typing documents? If Steve Jobs had never taken up calligraphy he never would have even paid attention to fonts for early Macs, so they would never have gained a reputation for being innovative. But when he was studying calligraphy there was no way he could have predicted how it would be key to his and Apple's success.

Of course chance does not always work in ways we like. Sometimes something in our past comes back to bite us in the butt, in ways nobody could have foreseen.

So what are some elements of your early life that have surprised you later by being very useful? What are some that have been a hindrance later, in ways that surprised you?

When I was a teen I would walk to high school while reading a book. Peripheral vision rocks. People who saw me walking down the road thought it was amazing, but for me it was just useful.

These days a lot of people do the same with their phones. A childhood of spending my travel time profitably has trained me unexpectedly well for a future with smartphones. But back then there was no way I could have known smartphones would even be a thing, much less how many people would be trying to do a skill I mastered way back then. I can walk and use a smartphone better than anybody I know.

On the flip side... there are some things in my past that come back today in more negative ways.

Once upon a time I spent about a year drunk. For me it was a logical experiment - so many people around me drank and seemed to enjoy it. There had to be SOMETHING to it, right? Despite all their complaining about hangovers, they still eagerly looked forward to the next weekend when they could get drunk. So I tried it, and I was very methodical in trying it. I tried multiple levels, many times, with various poisons... er, intoxicants.

All I discovered at the end of it all was, drinking is for people who really hate their reality and want it to go away and leave them alone in peace for awhile. I could have saved about a year if I had noticed all the people I know who really like getting drunk are also people who complain a lot about their realities.

Fast forward to present day and the covid-19 pandemic: Hand sanitizer is EVERYWHERE, it smells like cheap vodka and - because of my year of trying something a lot of people seem to enjoy - the smell makes me want to puke. But how could I have known back then that this would happen?

I drank many such poisons when I was younger. I think that your perception that drinking is for people who really hate their reality is right on target. I don't mean the occasional social drink or having a cold beer after a hard day's work but looking forward to getting drunk, especially on a regular basis that is incorporated in one's lifestyle.
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I hate the smell of hand sanitizer for exactly the same reason! It smells like vodka!

And vodka is a nightmarish memory of part of my marriage.

Some people have a hard time seeing their reality because they are blinded by their past.

I have been realizing that I have been doing this in the last few months or year.

I was mentored in the beginning of my faith by two elderly white people, i am forever in their debt because they helped me build on the foundation and its helped me through my problems.