Realm of Possibility

We’re limited by our realms of possibilities.

I’ve been playing around with the idea that we all have realms of possibilities. Given what we know, our imaginations, who we are around, hardships we’ve faced, and what we think we’re capable of, we have created a realm of possibilities for our life. These are the paths we can take or the things we can do based on our current state of being.

In high school, my realm included one option: get into to a good college without going into debt. Something that was not in my realm: learn how to code (I didn’t know anyone who knew how to code and I didn’t understand the power behind being able to build).

In college, it was: spend as little money as possible, get good grades to get a good job. I didn’t realize that I should spend time exploring different classes, skills etc to figure out what I liked. Instead, it was just follow along my chosen major and do well in classes.

Only after I started working in consulting, did I start to wonder what else is out there? I can’t be made to just create slide decks all day.

Even as I built products that helped millions of people, my realm still felt limiting to me.

I look back and I wish I could have seen all the other paths available to me. Start a business, maybe don’t go to college and follow my curiosities, talk to random people, surround myself with people doing cooler things than me, write online. I realize now that my realm was severely constrained and my imagination too.

You can expand your realm.

Some people have larger realms to start with, and some of us are late-bloomers. But, it’s up to us to use what we have to open up new realms of possibilities. Here are just a few ways I’ve been expanding my realm recently: meeting new people, moving to a new place (London!), finding communities on the internet, reading.

Looking back on my journey, I’m not too hard on myself here. I did the best I could with my limited understanding of the world and the realm I was operating in.

And, nothing is stopping me from doing those things now.