Under-graduate: Bachelor of Life

Recently, I've pondering a great deal about some major life decisions.

The decisions I will have to make in the coming months will commence a chain reaction of events that will shape me into the person I will become in 5, 10, 20 years and beyond.

So, it obviously is something that I am treating with the appropriate care it needs; I will have to tommy-research all of my options and decide which course of action to take. As always in the case with a great deal of inward thinking, reflection on past crossroad decisions I've made and how they've affected me come to the forefront of my mind.

Some people say that they "wouldn't change any of it for the world", and I say those people are full of crap.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is another meaningless platitude that is bantered around often, and again I call "Bull." There are a few things I have done in my life that I would erase or rewrite if given the chance, but I don't waste too much time dwelling as it's not constructive; I simply try to accept them, and move on.

If you don't get the reference, you should Know Your Meme.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with where I've ended up today, a couple of things didn't go exactly to plan but I've put it behind me and kept on striving forward.

I didn't always think like this, though; For the longest time I was bitter at myself for not staying at home with my parents a bit longer to pursue higher education and obtain a degree. Reflecting on it however, I now think that this is possibly a choice that might have been the right one at the time. My opinion of the human condition mimics that of many; A person is simply the outcome of a collection of experiences, that we're all ultimately shaped by both nature and nurture. A true unadulterated product of our environments.

This out there, I am happy (mostly) with the person I am today, and while there are some experiences that I would negate if I had the power, for the most part I am satisfied with my past conduct as it formed, in a very literal way, who I became.

University is something that is obviously a worthwhile endeavour, but I think the teachings I would have been provided with would have been completely wasted on a former version of myself. I am now a more complete person than I ever have been before, and tomorrow I will be more complete again, as I will be the day after. With every step we become more of ourselves; Every single experience is a lesson, and I feel that one year in the "Real World" is worth three or more in a lecture hall. The school of life. The school of hard-knocks.

I don't mean to come off all Tony Robbins-y here, but I feel that if I had earned a degree when I was younger and had not spent those years battling the Real World, I would be a less experienced and therefore a less complete individual.

I'm not sure if you've ever worked with a fresh-faced university graduate, but if you have you'll know that you are often surprised about how the simplest of concepts can escape them in a Real World situation. Their teachings taught them all of the in's and out's of what the world is like in theory, but in actuality they lack real-world experience and therefore almost need to unlearn some of the things that they were taught in favour of being effective in the Real World.

True story.

Now, I'm not pretending that I somehow know the best balance for all of this, or that I've accumulated enough knowledge to consider myself anybody who is worthy of an expert opinion. That's just what it is, an opinion. However, I feel like I am finally ready to study seriously toward obtaining a degree. I have experienced the Real World for a few years and have gained a rudimentary understanding of how the Real World works; Hopefully now I can study the theory and adapt it to Real World situation on the fly without it clouding my judgement about how it truly operates.

On second thoughts: CloakerJosh with a higher education?
You thought he was a pain in the arse before? You just wait.