I recently went to a friend’s place to help him celebrate the day in which that he decided upon a path in his life. For him, it happened while watching Back to the Future. While watching it, he was enjoying it so much that he started to contemplate where he was in life and I think he started comparing it to aspects in the movie. I won’t go too much into his decisions and processes, but suffice it to say that it was a life-changing moment.
Since that moment, my friend has celebrated every year on that date with a screening of Back to the Future in which he invites friends to watch with him. He says that his next year is dependent upon how the viewing goes. It’s almost like his new year.
This concept got me thinking of my own life changing moment. I think we all have this moment. For me, it was at the bank.
It had been about two months since I was fired from a rather unsavory retail job with no prospects at all and living with my mom on SSI. I went to the bank to deposit a $25 check from someone into my saving account, got my deposit slip back and sat in my car and looked at the slip. I had just under $800 in my savings account.
It was at this moment that I sat and thought to myself that I needed a better life than this and so I went out to move forward and get a better life. Within a year, I got my GED, had taken my ACTs, and was attending college at the UW in Whitewater.
It has now been 10 years since that moment, and while I am not where I had wanted to be, I am definitely in a better place. No longer living with my mom, earning twice the amount I was in that retail job with benefits (I didn’t even really have any at the retail store), and recently getting a promotion, hopefully at some point with another raise. I still am working towards a better life, but I definitely think I have better prospects than I did 10 years ago but I have a long ways to go.
In thinking of all of this though, I realized that I probably could find the date. You see, I kept that bank slip that made me change my life. In fact, I framed it and hung it on my wall as my inspiration. And after all of this thought, I looked at the date and found that it was February 25th.
I don’t think I can very well have a party at the bank in order to celebrate like my friend does with Back to the Future. I’m not even sure if I’ll remember by the time that date rolls around again.
I do like the idea of a party though. And even if I never do a party, it is nice to reflect on this moment and realize how far I’ve come in my life, and think forward on where I have to go yet. Hopefully I can achieve some of the goals that I have always wanted.