For our second Light Novel Club selection, we’re reading Walking My Second Path in Life!, a charming little story about a neglected princess who is married off, along with her sister, to a neighboring king who them virtually imprisons her. However, Fie, the titular princess, decides to take this opportunity to start life anew as a squire for the kingdom’s knights.
It’s a fun story—I recommend you all read it before joining us a week from tomorrow for discussion—and it’s mostly meant to be fun and exciting and funny rather than to cause us to think real deeply about the situation or ourselves. But the whole setup does bring up an interesting question: is there a point in your life where you would have changed course, where you would have done something completely different than what you ended up doing? I know the common answer is “No, because all the choices I made led me to where I am today,” and that’s a fair answer but it’s not what I’m looking for! Let’s go anime-style and forget about reality—I’d rather you think about a time when you could have gone off the road and walked your own “second path in life,” perhaps in schooling decisions, a relationship, or some other important choice.
So let us know: What’s a point in your life where, looking back, you might have decided to change course and walk a different path?
Comment below, and then head over to J-Novel Club and get this volume so that you can join us to discuss on May 17th!
One of my nicknames is Fi
Oh really? Then this book is for you, Fiona! Haha.
Lol yeah I wonder if there’s a book with Rachel’s nickname in it (Rach,Rachie)
I think that, had I chosen a different college, or a different major in college, or even different courses in high school, I would have likely ended up in a different field. In fact, I see my younger brother’s path of becoming a video game designer as a path I might have gone down had various things in my life been different.
That said, the path I’m on right now is fulfilling in its own way so I can happily keep going down this path while I cheer my brother on down his path.
I’ve reached a similar conclusion with my own path and the one I didn’t take. Thanks for sharing!
I was homeschooled, a decision my parents actually allowed me to make (some of my siblings stayed in the public school system in America, though most of us eventually ended up doing homeschooling). Long story short, that decision led me to having truckloads of extra time, and I used much of that time to develop specific skills that I definitely wouldn’t have had time for otherwise. I think if I had stayed in public school I would’ve turned out to be a completely different person. Almost scares me how that seemingly small choice as a kid ended up being a pivotal point in my life, haha.
The power of these choices we make when we don’t necessarily have the wisdom to make them! Thanks for sharing!
Hum… That’s difficult. Maybe I wouldn’t have started some secret vices in my early teens that made me suffer a lot and were difficult to get rid of. I remember the moments when I would broke a certain barrier, and the consequences years later: each of them certainly changed my life for worst. I empathized with Re:Zero’s Subaru in that respect: all the time wasted, all the insecurities which came out later, the fear of failing as a human being because of that… It would have been easier to fight against that secret lust or fantasies of revenge, or that sloth, in the beggining.
Then again, the fact helped me to reject my prideful ways and to recognize me as a sinner. Even if I somehow went back and changed it, the effect would stay with me, as the effect of previous temporal lines tends to stay with the traveler, and they were secret anyway. So if I had that oportunity to go back in my life, maybe I would just try to prevent some terrorist attack, or something like that.
Yeah, this is a hard question to answer partially because the things we regret sometimes are necessary to help us grow. It’s the problem with our condition—like a child, we often can’t just trust and do; we have to suffer and then learn.