What would I do if I could do Anything?

Here is a question that I have contemplated for as far as I can remember…” What would I do if could do anything?” What I mean by this is if I had no responsibility and enough money to not have to work, what would I have been doing?

It’s funny that growing up I was asked this question by everyone “What would you like to be when you grow up?” and I always had the same answer as most of the kids my age do -“Astronaut!”

What was it about being an Astronaut that fascinated me? Was it because they had a veryunique opportunity to go out into the unknown where only a handful of people in the history of humankind have been?

As humans, we have this natural inclination to be unique and do something that no one or only a few can do, and I think that’s embedded in our consciousness right when we’re born.

When children are young, they are naturally keen to explore things around them. There’s a natural sense of curiosity, a hint of impatience and eagerness to figure out the unknown. Whether that’s something as simple as a toy – they’ll either break it just to see what’s inside – or be silent and diligent observers in any situation that catches their interest.  Either way, the concept of the unknown is always fascinating to them! 

I certainly was trying to break every toy I ever got…Just so I could see what’s inside. What used to get my attention was any toy with any kind of motor inside it.

I would dismantle the toy, take the motor out, and later run the motor on its own with batteries! No real reason to dismantle a perfectly good toy, but the curiosity made me want to know how the motor works and how things work. And if anything, that process itself of figuring something new out was more enjoyable than playing with the actual toy. 

I remember I once got a Gameboy as a gift, and it had this game with 2 Rambo-like characters fighting each other and all I wanted to do was to open that damn thing and get those guys out. What a dumbass I was.

Coming back to my initial question of what I would do if I could do anything… Sitting here in my late 20s I always wonder where that wannabe astronaut went?

Who or what decides what one is going to be or do in life? Is it one’s free will? Or the genetics we inherit. Or is it the environment we grow up in? or is it already decided by God before we are born as my elders would tell me. If the decision is already made before we are born then how do the other factors that I mentioned above fit in?

I have no Idea!!!

I have heard a lot of successful people who do what they always wanted to do say one common thing on how they achieved success is “hard work”. But work hard at what? And more so, what does working hard even mean?

When I look around, I see construction workers working hard but they are seldom called “Successful”. Is it because they do physical hard work? If physical hard work is not a standard for success, then it must be intellectual hard work. In that case scientists, doctors, and physicists should be on top of the success scale but that is not true either.

Is it the ability to earn money that decides the success of the person? It certainly seems so, at least in the society that I live in. Rich men seem to rule the minds of the masses. Everyone is interested in who the richest man in the world is and who is number 2,3,4 and so on. I see people getting excited when one rich guy passes the other to become the richest person.

What a circus where the masses seem to be the clowns and performers are the ones laughing.

Then you have the politicians who hold all the power and during the election even the richest people in the world choose sides and donate their wealth to get the winning political party on their side. So, is it power then that sits on the top of the success pyramid? Interestingly enough, a certain demographic of our population is not even interested in politics or the politicians, yet somehow the politicians have the ability in deciding the rules and regulations of our society.

With that being said, the question remains, what would I do? Go for money? Power? Or go choose the commonly said “hard working” path?

The only logical conclusion I can reach in my head is that I don’t know what I would do if I could do anything. So maybe I just keep doing what I am doing.