Where would I be today if I had continued in the direction I went in my youth?

Prompted by a post I read a few days ago, which featured a picture of a motorcyclist with his red Yamaha 🙂 , I thought I might as well write a similar one, as there have been a couple of turning points in my life where I suddenly reversed course and changed my behaviors and attitudes.

And then I see that this week's topic is related to exactly that:
• Show a picture of a younger version of yourself and explain what positive changes and initiatives you've made to improve your life and develop from there to the present time.

One such moment happened when I was serving my military service, a little over 25 years ago.
They are also the only photos older than 15, 20 years (when I was younger) that I have in digital format that I can share here with you.

I blurred them a little (myself a little less), so as not to reveal who my comrades were 🙂

Being away for almost a year, I realized how important I was to certain people from my immediate environment and I concluded that the friendships I had with them ended the moment I left for service.

When I returned home, I heard from individuals a few more times and their comment: "We are used to you always calling us and arranging for us to meet and hang out", but I answered them: "My dears. That will have to change and if you want to see each other, you will have to call me sometimes".
You can imagine, from that moment on, the number of friends decreased significantly.

When I came back from the army, I didn't have a steady job. Until then, I had completed higher education (neither an engineering nor an academic degree).
Skilled with my hands, I knew how to do various crafts (construction, painting, furniture making) and I did that at first (for a year), while I had the idea that it was not a job I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

At that moment, I made another turn, when I decided to go through life with my head, not with raw strength, which I spent on those craft jobs.

I am changing my job and moving into the profession for which I had finished high school and encouraged by my girlfriend, I decide to continue my education.

From high school, I transfer to university, enroll in a specialist program, obtain the title of engineer, and after that, enter the faculty, pass the required distinction exam and obtain the title of graduate engineer.

After that moment, which I immortalized with a photo as soon as I left the thesis defense, I could move on to more serious work.

The new title brought me a job with more responsibility, with contacts in the engineering world, with projects in which I participated as a manager, not just as an executor.
Like any better-paid job, this one gave me the opportunity to make my life a little more comfortable, to travel more and get to know some new cultures and to improve myself further.
Because without progress, a person would stomp in place for a while, and then go step by step, backwards.
This certainly does not mean that I, who have always taken a step forward throughout my life, will not at some point take a step back.

But, unlike the level I would be at if I hadn't decided to change direction after the army, I will now be at a different level, so taking a step back will not be unacceptable to me, as it would be if I were going back from the starting point of my career and life, from those 25 years ago.