I believe that we are all engineers; don't we all engineer our lives, how we think and act and what happens to us throughout the passage of time? Admittedly, some do not but most of us do it to a greater or lesser degree...and one doesn't even need a University Degree to do it, just ownership and discipline.
I'm an engineer, have been one for a long time, and I'm one of those engineers that doesn't have a formal education to prove it - just an inquisitive, innovative and creative mind and the desire to use it...and most importantly I've had a need and want to engineer many aspects and events in my life which have improved it.
Want proof?
Back a while when I was a kid I was quite adventurous (still am) and was always pushing limits in many aspects - this could also translate to "doing dumb things" of course...and pushing people's limits of patience - and many of those limit-testing endeavours required some skill in engineering. I say skill, but a lot of the time trial and error was the most prevalent factor.
On one particular occasion I had need, (I'll be honest and say it was a want), to jump my push bike over a few of the neighbour-kids who would be laying on the ground between two ramps.
In my head I was destined for Evel Knievel style glory (google him) and it was all going to work out perfectly well. That was engineering in itself, the idea of jumping my bike in magnificent and epic fashion over those neighbour-kids - I was engineering, (designing and creating) my life the way I wanted it to be. But engineering of a different kind was required also, the ramps.
I worked on those ramps for a week before the appointed hour for the epic magnificence that my jump would ultimately be, and I had some failures, readjusted and tried again but after a couple more failed attempts I was happy with what I'd designed and made. It was a ten year-old's design and construct so not all that good but good enough, my epic magnificence would make up for what the ramps lacked.
On jump-day I got those fuckers to lay down side-by-side between the two ramps I'd spaced out and got down to creating the epic magnificence for which I was destined.
I failed miserably; not enough speed and ramps that were set on too shallow of an angle. My bike took off from the first ramp and while there was some "air" gained I came down too quickly and landed on those kids. It wasn't pretty. The good thing is that I stayed on my bike and used those poor little fuckers for traction to ride away unscathed. (Not so good for them though.)
That was not my first attempt at engineering of course, just one of my most memorable ones.
My life has been one of many such attempts and failures, of ideas, plans, goals and actions which I have engineered, designed and created, based on my needs and wants. Some of my failures were monumental and some of my successes epically magnificent, but all were mine, engineered by me, and that's the bare minimum I think - the bare minimum required for a person's life to resemble what they would like it to look like.
The biggest failure a person can have is failing to design and create (engineer) their life with the goal of a happy, fulfilling and meaningful one in mind.
Note: I'd like to say, "no kids were harmed in the making and execution of my bike jumping escapade above", but those little fuckers were fucked up. I got into a lot of trouble for this little episode...but you'll be happy to know that that trouble and punishment didn't diminish my enthusiasm and momentum to keep designing and creating my life.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image(s) in this post are my own