My list of people I would love to meet (dead, alive or fictional) consists of many people, but at the top of the list reside John Kennedy, Michael Scott (of course), John Lennon, Jesus Christ, Kurt Cobain and Frank Sinatra.

I would die to have a conversation over coffee about the paper industry with Michael Scott, but the first person I would love to have coffee with is my past self. I changed spiritually and physically over the past month let alone the past year or two.

To see myself from a couple months/years ago from my current perspective would change my outlook on life. I could see firsthand how my experiences have changed me. This of course will never become possible.

I know who I am now and who I was then, but I will never see myself in real life. Yes, mirrors give us the ability to see how our physical bodies appear but what we see is just an idea. We will never view ourselves as other people view us. We all have this idea of what we may look like, but we will never truly see ourselves.

I often wonder what I look like to other people. Do they notice menial details about my appearance? Do they take notice to the specific way my hair parts or the shape of my eyes? Do I truly look like I do in the mirror? I could look completely different but I will never know. Do the people I see every day think they look different than they actually look?

To have the opportunity to sit down in front of my past self would be a gift. I would be able to view how I carried myself during a tough or joyous time. I could finally validate or deem false my perceptions of myself. If I held a detrimental demeanor, I could take steps to change my demeanor for the future.

We all have this idea of how we present ourselves, but we will never have the ability to experience our demeanor from an onlooker’s viewpoint. I love obtaining an answer to every question I pose, but I recently learned that commonly the deep, profound questions do not have answers. Do I look the way I perceive myself to look?

I will never know and I am surprisingly content with that. If I had an answer to everything, life would not be enjoyable because I would have nothing to learn and question. The unknown incites imagination and life without imagination is not whole. As that being said, if I could meet one-person dead, alive or fictitious, I would meet my past self. But, that is not possible and I am OK with that.