I believe that everything is an outcome of a previous action or choice.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking how I got where I am today. Where did these friends come from?  How did I get here? It’s all because of something.

This happens often in the little good and bad things in our everyday lives. One good example of this was when I was going to buy my laptop off of craigslist. My mom and I were driving over to go meet the seller at her house a town over so we could negotiate and look at the laptop before we decided to actually purchase it. On the way, we got held up in traffic and we arrived about an hour late. Someone else had stopped by. They didn’t buy the laptop so the seller became desperate and decided to only sell the laptop at $60 as opposed to the original 100$ price tag. We were in great luck, my mom had the money to buy the laptop; and with the extra $40 I was able to buy a mouse, headphones, and a few other helpful accessories.

Although this wasn’t a life-defining moment, it still was a great thing and I felt that luck was just going my way. I see things like this happen in variations and on similar or even larger scales.  A literal life defining moment for me was how my parents met.

You see, when my mom got out of college she decided to move to Los Angeles with friends to pursue a career in film. She had been living in San Francisco for the past few months with her roommate, Kristie. It had been tough for the roommate, just six months earlier, she was jogging near the park when a city bus ran a red light and hit Kirstin. She survived, but was badly bruised and spent many weeks recovering. Although they were more roommates than friends, it was still an event that impacted my mom. On that night, a man named Sean, who was a friend of Kristie, came over to visit Kristie. Sean introduced himself and they only spent a few minutes talking with him.

A few months later, now living in Los Angeles, my mom decided to have lunch in the west Los Angeles. It was a sunny day and the cafe she chose had a steady stream of customers. Seated on the patio, was my mom who, out of the corner of her eye, saw a recognizable face. It was Sean. Sean and my mom started talking and he talked about how he recently joined a new business startup and was looking for a marketing assistant. My mom was intrigued and since she didn’t have a real career at the time, she willingly accepted the idea with open arms. Sean suggested to my mom, she come in for an interview. So my mom did just that and got the job on the spot. One month later she met my Dad, Joe.

The rest is history, and looking back on it, so many events, actions, and coincidences led up to eventually the creation of me. If my mom went to a different restaurant or even if my mom’s friend never got hit by that bus, I, along with everything I’ve done, all the people I’ve touched, the lives I’ve already changed whether I know it or not, would never have existed.

So think, take another route to school, do something new, ask that cute girl out. It’ll probably affect you, your loved ones, and even a complete stranger’s life. There are many hidden outcomes to arise with every decision and It seems as if the smallest actions can always have the biggest outcomes. This, I believe.