“When I was young, people would tell us anything is possible. I don’t really think it was true though back then. But now, for you, it really is. The opportunities you have now are amazing.”
My grandfather said this to me a while back. It was one of those moments where someone says something to you and you know you’ll never forget it.
It really struck me because he was right.
Back when my grandfather was my age, he had to work hard. Really hard. I’m not sure if we work less hard today (most older folks would probably say we do), but we certainly work differently. If you don’t want to spend your day doing manual labor, you simply don’t have to. You have choices, and lots of them.
Right now one of my good friends is sitting in Bali working on her laptop, doing work that she could do anytime from any place on the globe. She can do that. Do you know how amazing that is?
The world was smaller then. Written correspondence with someone, for the most part, took days or even weeks, now it takes mere seconds. To tell someone where you were you had to tell them directly. Our location can now be shared without us doing anything if we choose.
Social networks were drastically smaller. Today I could video chat with a friend in Asia while checking Twitter to see the photo of the view my friend in Ireland just posted from their morning run. This all happens as fast as you want it to. Nothing or nobody controls the speed and frequency of our interactions besides us.
Every time I hit publish on a blog post here, anyone can read it instantly. Anyone can share their thoughts today, on anything. There are no gatekeepers. You choose if you want to be heard.
And that’s what it’s really all about. Choices. When my grandfather said that to me he meant that the abundance of choices we have today is enough to make virtually nothing impossible.
These are exciting times, people. The opportunities out there for all of us are incredible. It’s important to not forget that (and act on it too).