December 28, 2024. What Drives Your Choices?.

Remember that moment in kindergarten when the teacher asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up? For me, it was crystal clear - I wanted to open a dinosaur ranch. Not just any ranch, mind you, but one teeming with majestic T-Rexes, powerful Triceratops, and those gentle giants with the long necks, the Brachiosaurus (though back then, I probably just called them 'the long-neck ones'). Like quantum particles existing in multiple states, that dream held infinite possibilities, unconstrained by the practical limitations adults would later teach me to see.

But life has its way of collapsing these quantum states of possibility into more conventional realities. By junior high school, my heart had found a new calling - I wanted to join the police force. It wasn't just a passing fancy; it was a deep-seated desire that felt right in every way. I could already picture myself walking through the halls of our prestigious police academy, ready to serve and protect. That dream became my North Star, guiding every decision I made. Much like the seemingly solid matter of our everyday world, this path appeared fixed and certain.

Yet, just as quantum physics reveals that solid matter is mostly empty space filled with probability waves, life has a way of showing us that our most certain paths are really just one possibility among many. Strange things happened along the way - the kind of twists and turns that make you question everything you thought you knew about yourself. During every major decision, I found myself having these internal debates. My head, still marching in formation at the police academy, would argue logically for one path. But my heart? It was whispering about different possibilities, different ways to make an impact.

It took me a while to realize that sometimes the most practical choice isn't necessarily the right one for us. Just as we pay a price for comfort - trading possibility for predictability - we often pay a price for practicality, exchanging our wildest dreams for safer options. After countless sleepless nights and soul-searching conversations with myself, I finally understood why I kept feeling this pull away from what seemed like the 'obvious' path. My head was stuck in the old dream, but my heart was ready to explore new horizons.

As I sit here building Abdi & Brothers Company, in my bedroom, I keep coming back to this question: What really drives our choices? Not the choices we tell others about, not the ones that look good on LinkedIn, but the real, deep-down choices that shape our lives. Like the quantum states of particles before observation, our potential exists in multiple states simultaneously until we collapse it into reality through our choices.

Think back to your earliest memory of wanting something. Not a toy or a treat, but really wanting to become something. That pure, untainted desire that came from nowhere except your own heart. For me, that desire transformed from childhood dreams of running alongside dinosaurs to the structured path of law enforcement. The fascinating thing about desires is how they evolve while keeping their core essence - both dreams were about protecting and nurturing something bigger than myself.

Now trace the path from there to here. What changed? When did 'I want to serve in the police force' become 'I need to explore other possibilities'? When did 'I want to follow the prescribed path' transform into 'I need to listen to my inner voice'? The journey between these points isn't always a straight line - sometimes it's more like those quantum particles that take all possible paths simultaneously before settling on one.

Society has this fascinating way of herding us into predetermined paths. School, college, police academy, service, promotion - it's like a pre-written script we're all expected to follow. But who wrote this script? And more importantly, why are we following it without questioning? The cost of this comfort, this adherence to the familiar, is the infinite potential we leave unexplored.

Let me share something personal. When I decided to take a different path, people thought I was throwing away a secure future. 'The police force offers stability,' they said. 'It's a respected position.' But just as the quantum world challenges our perception of reality, my journey has challenged my understanding of stability. I've learned that true stability doesn't come from external certainties, but from alignment with our deepest truths.

Your head might tell you to be practical, to follow the established path, to make the 'smart' choice. Your heart might be screaming for something entirely different. Like the dual nature of light - both wave and particle - we contain multitudes of possibilities. The trick isn't to silence either voice - it's to understand why they're saying what they're saying. My head still occasionally wanders back to the police academy, but my heart knows we're where we need to be.

I've seen too many people living lives they didn't choose, pursuing goals they don't care about, climbing ladders leaning against the wrong walls. They wake up one day, look in the mirror, and barely recognize the person staring back at them. Like particles trapped in a predetermined state, they've forgotten their quantum nature - their ability to exist in multiple states of possibility.

So I want you to do something right now. Close your eyes for a moment. Think about your kindergarten dream - whether it was as wild as my dinosaur ranch or as structured as my later police academy aspirations. Now think about where you are. If there's a gap between these two points, that's okay. The important question is: Are you okay with that gap? Is it there because you chose it to be there, or because you let others collapse your wave of possibilities into their preferred state?

Your choices are your signature on the canvas of existence. Every decision, every path taken or not taken, shapes not just your future but who you become. The beauty is, you can always make new choices. Just as quantum particles can become entangled across space and time, your past dreams and future potential are connected in ways that transcend linear thinking.

Because here's the truth: The world doesn't need more people following the prescribed path just because it's prescribed. It needs people who dare to exist in states of possibility, who make choices driven by their own truth, who understand that sometimes the bravest choice isn't following the dream you've held onto for years - it's having the courage to let it go and embrace a new one.

What drives your choices? Only you can answer that. But make sure it's really you doing the answering, not the comfort of certainty, not the fear of the unknown, not the weight of others' expectations. Remember, in a quantum universe where even certainty itself is an illusion, maybe the only real certainty is that we always have the power to choose again.