Sliding Doors.

Ever imagine what your life would be like if you picked the other option?
I do. It makes you think about whether you've made the right decision in life.

Love is one factor to consider.

I've got the inspiration to write this blog when I watched the film ' Sliding Doors', where the film shows two parallel universes of Gwyneth Paltrow's character: One where she misses her train by a second and the other where she catches her train on time.
We follow both versions on whether her catching the train makes an impact in her life.

It did, of course. When she caught her train, she met John Hannah's character on the tube, she arrived home to her boyfriend having sex with another woman in bed, broke up with him, changed her hair colour from brown to blonde, met that tube guy again, had sex, got pregnant with him but got hit by a car and died in hospital, losing her baby.

In the other version where she had missed her train, so she tries to hail a taxi, gets robbed and injured. When home, she didn't catch her boyfriend cheating, he had finished having sex with the mistress, they carry on as normal, the other woman comes round now and again, then towards the end, we find out that Gwyneth Paltrow and the mistress get pregnant by the same man and then she finds out he's been cheating. She runs away from her boyfriend and falls down the stairs, ending up in hospital and loses her baby but alive. We also see John Hannah's character in the same hospital visiting his sick mother and walks past Gwyneth Paltrow's character.

This film influenced the American TV show "Frasier" where it showed an episode of the character Frasier deciding whether to wear a suit jacket or a jumper to a date and it shows simple things like that can make a difference.

However, both the film and the comedy show ended with the same outcome. Its just the journey of getting to the other end that makes it difficult. I've learnt from experience that when you think you've made the right decision in life, it can lead to bad consequences. Maybe thats a hint from life that you've done the wrong thing.

Like love. Love is very unpredictable, but if two people are meant to be, then they'll collide. No matter what universe they're in.

It's scary how little things we do can make a huge impact, perhaps costing us opportunities which is quite sad. Love doesn't have an undo button like a game if we screw it up. We have to start again sometimes from scratch with our remaining lives. Sometimes we get a second chance. Sometimes we're not meant to have a second chance and therefore have to live with our mistake never knowing what might've happened.

But some people don't learn from their mistakes because they've never witnessed it from anothers point of view. For example, my mum told me that when a mother makes a mistake as a young woman, if she has a daughter then she must inform her child of these mistakes so that she wouldn't be repeating history. Otherwise it'd become a cycle.

Another example is my 42-year-old father. In his 20s, after my mother and biological father divorced, they got back together and he received a job offer in advertising, near London. He asked my mother whether she would wait for him if he got this job and she said no because of me. She had a child to look after (in Devon) and so, not wanting to risk losing my mother again, he stayed in town and helped run the takeaway with her, and he still does now.
I asked him before I went to university, whether he could go into advertising now if he had the chance and he replied by saying it was too late for him. From that, I asked if he regretted working in the takeaway, he said yes, but he doesn't regret staying with my mother. My dad stayed for love, but it cost him.

That is one decision I know I definitely was sure about. University. I wanted to experience the world. More social circles. To broaden my career choices.
But what if I didn't go? Would I still be working at the takeaway everyday? Would I be at college for another two years? Would I still be with Steven? My life came to a halt until four months ago and I'm very gracious to my family who pushed me to be where I am now.
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Thankyou.