The Person I Did Not Become

Alfred-Stephens@NightCafe.ai [Author’s Creation]

My story is based on the prompt from Brandon Ellrich's story.

Read below:

Who I Did NOT Become

The Prompt

Everyone’s dreams change. Think about what you wanted to be when you were a child. Think of things that changed your life and forced you to go down a different path. Think of a life you may have imagined but didn’t realize. This prompt will mean different things to different people so I will not guide you. The basic premise is — the person you did not become.

Write about the person you did not become. This can be in the form of an open letter to yourself if you’d like or just an essay description or even a poem (however you want to describe this person and why they could have been you but are NOT you — do it).

Alfred-Stephens@NightCafe.ai [Author’s Creation]

The person I am not, is seen in the mirror of my life.

Like someone who could have been anything they wanted to be if things were different. But now those chances and lost dreams are gone forever.

In life’s complicated weave, each choice and action changes who we are.

Regrets…

But with the person I am, there also exists a fake self. Unfulfilled. One that would have reduced me to a dis-empowering and false self-image.

This is like an image of choices not made or roads that were never traveled down. Or the bottomless chasm between who I think I am, and who I really am. The voice that tells me, that's not who you are, because I’ve spent so much time away from realizing some possible dreams, but instead I’m chasing those illusive waterfalls.

Choices……

Life as I know it, is a bunch of choices, each one giving us many different ways to go. There are those who will say that I am so shockingly bad at making decisions. But making decisions, whether meaningless or significant, is one of life’s lessons.

Crossroads…..

The person I didn’t become is at these crossroads, showing that different paths could have been possible in my thoughts and action. Maybe, a dream was lost in the dust and passion faded because real life got in the way. It might be a job not tried, feelings never expressed or ability unused. The person I didn’t become is the ghost of these lost possibilities.

The Gap……

Thinking about the paths not chosen makes me feel sorry at times. What if I had gone after that art degree or stepped out and tried a different city? The person I didn’t become collects all my what-ifs, a quiet hint of the hard line between decision and result. This introspection is what I call the Gap, where time passes like a fleeting whisper, sometimes a shout, or a nudge, just dancing on the edges of my consciousness. It is at these times I wish it is the one I had forgotten.

Life’s Lesson…..

But, when thinking about the person I didn’t become it doesn’t make me sad, but teaches me a lesson of importance. It means that life is a trip, not just the end point. The paths I haven’t taken make the story better, each choice adding a special part to my life. The person I could have been is not scary, but it tells me to live now and see the big possibilities in every second.

Accountability

One thing I know, and that is I am solely responsible for the decisions I have made in my life.

Second Chances……

As I go through life, the person I didn’t become acts as a guide.

It slips through the fingers of the past, even the present, but it is within the grasp of the future. Showing me direction towards unexplored areas of my soul. It is a call to look inside myself, rethink and maybe fix things if they’re wrong. The person I didn’t turn into is a happy event that tells about how our identity can change. It reminds me that as human beings we never stay the same, but keep changing and exploring different options in life.

Acceptance.…

Has allowed me to live in a world of my making.

In simple terms, the person I didn’t become is not someone else, but a big part of who I am. It’s a picture that keeps changing with every move, decision and breath.

It creates my special story made just for me.

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