This five star movie got me thinking...

I watched a fantastic movie recently.

Past Lives highlights how life is full of moments that present opportunities to branch off in many different directions. Ultimately we have to choose (or sometimes we have no choice) a particular path to walk down.

I sometimes think about certain life choices I made, and whether I could have avoided getting sick if I had chosen a different path.

If I decided not to join the ambulance service and subject myself to many years of shift work, would I have avoided the turmoil of becoming a ‘cancer patient’.

Thankfully, I have learnt to not ruminate on those thoughts. Who knows what my life would have looked like without my time as a Paramedic.

Those years working on the front line offered me time to learn about people. I was given insight into people’s lives during their toughest moments, which gave me an understanding of people like no other situation could have.

Not only that, but it’s left me with some entertaining dinner table stories to tell. However, I’ve learnt some people can be easily put off their food. Telling stories about faecal vomit have a time and place! See, I told you… I gained an understanding of people!

I suppose my point that is captured beautifully in Past Lives, is life is full of what ifs. To think too deeply about those untaken paths can be a burden.

It’s important to accept closure. Letting go of the other possible paths we could have walked, and living with contentment for the route we have chosen is key.

Accepting our path and committing to our path is not only beneficial for our mental state, but it is also just part of being human. We walk one path, and I for one am going to keep walking forward.

-Peter