Life Paths

 How can our decisions alter our life paths? There is one instance that I know without a doubt altered my life path, and that was my decision to move from Michigan to New York. I was a Junior in high school and it wasn't a decision that came easily to me. At the time, A lot of my friends from dance were graduating and I felt unsatisfied with my life in a small town. Watching my friends make plans for college gave me an itch to move onto a new chapter myself. I was accepted to Joffrey Ballet School to join their trainee program and it was exactly what I was looking for, but there were many factors to consider. To start, I would have to give up my senior year of high school. Prom, graduation, my peers who I had been with since kindergarten. It wasn't that I felt necessarily attached to school, but the sentimental value of all of those big moments that you look forward to growing up were hard to let go of. There was also the fact that I would be leaving my family. I would have to live alone and take care of myself in a big city when I had just barely gotten my license to drive. It was daunting and scary, but ultimately it was the right path for me. I was stuck in a holding place at home. I never felt challenged, I was with the same people day in and day out, and I was ready for a change.

I often wish I could watch a film that would show me how the other path could've played out. If I had decided to stick out senior year, where would I have ended up? Would I have hated it? Would I have ended up moving somewhere else? Going to a state school like my other friends? So much has happened since I moved here three years ago. I met the most amazing friends, I moved into my first apartment, I fell in love. It's difficult to imagine a world in which I didn't experience these things. There are certain aspects of my life now, that I believe would have happened either way. Take my roommate for instance, we were randomly assigned to each other our first year, and we've been best friends ever since. We always say that no matter the circumstances, our paths were destined to cross in this lifetime. And I wholeheartedly believe that. I think that I would still be dancing even without New York as well. Perhaps in a different way, but dancing has always been a sure destination for my path of life.



I believe that every decision we make impacts our life in someway, even the smallest choices can butterfly effect into something much larger. Some ripples are much easier to notice, and it’s interesting to think about how we paint our lives depending on the routes we choose



Comments

  1. Professor KnauerApril 21, 2025 at 12:06 PM

    Sophie,
    Your story of the road taken (and the road not taken) is very well told! I love your reflection about how the movie of your road not taken would have turned out! Your took a big risk in moving to New York as a high school senior, confident in your readiness for another opportunity on your dance journey, and it sounds as if it was a wonderful decision for many, many reasons.
    Thank you for sharing your story of your strong, educated and loving family that supported your decisions and your dreams, even if they may have been a bit scary for all involved!

    ReplyDelete

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