I had a defining moment in my life not so long ago, a kind of fork in the sand where I knew if I didn't start chasing the things I wanted I would never achieve the happiness I lacked. In short, I had to start chasing my dreams.
Coming from a not so happy childhood I struggled to finish school, despite getting really good grades up until grade 10, and achieving quite high scores on the national mathematics competition. Once I reached an age where I was self aware I wasn't able to continue to deny the problems happening around me, so I made one of my first happy mistakes.
I left school after grade 11 (we go til grade 12 in Australia, achieving our high school certificate) to join the army, I can tell you right now in the words of my uncle who was born in Iran: "For a young man from a country in the west, joining the army is one of the best things you can do". My uncle had been in the Iran-Iraq war before leaving for Australia, and this was pre-9/11 so take this into account.
Myself in Timor leste in 2006, and later on an excersize that had a dog unit.
I spent 5 years in the Army, while the whole time I had one thought in mind. As I joined when I was 18 I never really knew how the world worked, I didn't know what people did in real jobs. In the Army, you have a roof over your head, food, friends, medical and always something to do (even if that something to do is hurrying up and waiting haha).
I left the Army and knew I couldn't go back to my home town in Far North QLD, this was one of the next better decisions in my life. If I had gone back home I would have possibly never done anything with my life, just like every person that leaves the comfort of their home town they know.... many people that don't, usually stay the same.
I am going to leave this here, comment below if you are liking where this is going. I have more experiences to talk about, overseas travel, being in Timor Leste during an uprising, working in a prison, and leaving everything to go back to school.