With hindsight being 20/20, it's sometimes very interesting to look back to a particular moment, a particular fork in the road as it were and think about how things would be now had you chosen differently. Not with regret (because regret, like jealousy is a useless and poisonous emotion), but simply as an exercise in how easily a single decision can impact your life. Such a moment for me came about a year ago.
At the time, a few things were happening in my life. I'd finished a graduate degree, had completed a long process that started with a quiet announcement to myself in the night that maybe I wasn't bisexual after all. Maybe I was just gay. And I was planning on traveling to another continent with the funds I'd saved up while working and studying. In addition to all that, I was new to this whole crypto-currency scene. My brother had mentioned it to me - he was just getting really into it at the time and he told me about Ethereum.
"You should buy some," he said.
"Eh, it's like $15 though," I replied.
I bought three.
Then, I went traveling. I needed the cash I'd saved of course to finance my trip to Colombia and the Galápagos, where I'd spend the next year nearly, working, exploring and meeting generally fascinating people. At some point in my wandering, I got an excited message:
"Your eth is worth $300 a pop, sis :)"
What the hell? I thought. He must have added a 0. Later, when I got home to my place in Galápagos, I checked on it and sat there with a bemused expression.
"What's up," quipped my Ecuadorean best friend.
"My make believe internet money is worth over a thousand dollars," I replied, still bemused.
It was then I started to really read up and learn about what exactly cryptocurrency is. It was then that I started what I suspect will be a life long love affair with a fascinating branch of technological development and innovation.
Would I have been rich if I'd invested all that money instead of traveling? Yes. I mean not Richie Rich rich but I'd be able to do as I pleased for a while right now. Do I regret not doing so? No. Not for a heartbeat. The places I've seen and people I've met are worth the return on that investment ten times over. And yes, I could have gone later with my crypto-fortune, but then I would not have met the folks I did. I would not have met a person who has become one of my very best friends.
I'll be in the crypto-sphere for a long time to come, I guess. Participating in the tech. Hoping to build my fortune. And if I do? What will I do with it? Travel, of course :)
At the end of the day, the money is just a means to an end. The only part of life no one can ever take from you are the experiences.
Happy Steeming people and good luck with however you choose to invest your time and funding :)
The Wise Fox
images:
1: https://medium.com/personal-growth/the-forked-road-638a2dd10d74
2: https://www.coindesk.com/what-to-know-trading-ethereum/
3:https://busy.org/bitcoin/@driva/best-crypto-memes-will-give-usd10-sbd-to-the-winner