The Narratives – Mohamed Miah

Describe your life in an alternate universe.

They say everyone has a parallel life somewhere out there — a “what if” reality where every decision went the way you wanted it to.

In mine, I have the Midas touch.

I go to university, smash that engineering degree, and land a high-paying job straight out of graduation. By 25, I’m not just married to the woman of my dreams — I’ve bought us a big house, couple of shiny new cars. My kids are picture-perfect, they listen, they obey, they never slam doors or test boundaries. My parents beam with pride. My siblings and I are best friends. At work, I can do no wrong, every project is a success, every colleague a fan. I even use my wealth to build projects in Bangladesh, lifting communities out of poverty like some modern-day hero.

Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?

Too perfect.

Because here’s the thing, that life might look good on a CV or Instagram feed, but it’s missing something, character.

Without the friction, there’s no depth. Without the storms, there’s no wisdom. Without the mistakes, there’s no humility. If my life had been that smooth, maybe I’d be just another self-satisfied success story, comfortable but, shallow. Maybe I wouldn’t have the empathy I do now. Maybe I wouldn’t understand pain well enough to recognise it in others.

The boy I once was, the one who watched domestic violence unfold, the one who felt powerless, needed to go through that to shape his ideologies, to grow the compassion and grit I carry now. I needed to lose those so called amazing relationships, and friends, to get to the real ones. Those scars didn’t just break me, they rebuilt me.

So even in this alternate universe, where I’ve got it all, I think I’d still end up looking for this one. Maybe I’d even sabotage that perfect world! Just to find my way back here. Because here, I’ve learned. I’ve fought. I’ve survived.

And here, my victories, no matter how small, actually mean something.