How did we get here?

Introduction

"How did we get here?" is an advancement in Minecraft. You obtain the advancement when you have every status effect in the game applied to you simultaneously. I find this advancement very interesting because of its name. Asking "How did we get here?" implies that reaching such a point only happens via some freak accident or a random, unlikely series of events that would lead to you having every status effect, when that could not be further from the truth. The advancement is widely considered to be the hardest in the game, as it takes hours of planning and complicated setup to actually put yourself in such a situation. Yet, somehow, when you finally get the green bar in your chat telling you that you've earned the advancement after all of that, it remains your only thought. How DID we get here? What led us to this stupid idea where we spent hours sitting at our computer just to achieve some stupid, arbitrary, virtual award? Was the time spent getting every status effect applied simultaneously worth the hassle? Did you really, deep down, mean for this to happen, or was it truly just an accident to get here? Everything that we do feels so purposeful, yet none of it feels like we truly meant for it to happen.

For many introverts across the world, - or even just people who don't consider themselves that interesting - we hate being asked how we got here. "Say your name, your age, one fun fact about yourself, and one thing that you like to do." It's ridiculous, right? Even outside of the setting of an icebreaker, talking about myself is hard. It's not that I don't think I'm interesting. I just don't get proving it to others. I feel like I understand myself pretty well, actually (at least, better than I used to). It's just that I don't get explaining it to others. My life has been so complex and there are many things to know about me, - as goes for many others - so how do I explain who I am?See, throughout my life, I've learned that people either choose to reflect or accept. In any case, I'm definitely more of a reflector, but I don't get those who accept. That's not to berate them or see them as lesser, but "How did we get here?" is my favorite question. I live to reflect. Some people live their life on the basis of one day to the next. Meanwhile, I tend to view my life as where I am relative to itself as a whole. How could I not sit and think about my past when my understanding of it may very well dictate my future? Again, I don't think people who don't are lesser, but I can't help but wonder how they do it, because this type of perception on my life is a very fundamental part of who I am. I didn't get here by accident, and I hope that I will be able to use my position nowadays to avoid any accident in the future.

Somehow, that leads me here. After almost 18 years of being like this, I sit on my red-sheeted bed, playing with a Koosh Ball that I got last week, and checking my notes that I've been writing for the past 2 nights, trying to put my answer to this question into words. I have roughly 78 hours right now before I turn 18, and if the arbitrary standards of what we consider "adulthood" hold any real value, then these next few days would be a good time to forge this answer. Maybe I can help someone else understand the question or at least clear my head of the answers. Maybe, one day, assuming that what people say about your immaturity levels at this age hold true, I'll be able to laugh at my once ignorance or at least understand the answer better in the future based on where I was at such a significant point in time. Maybe that reflector in me will finally be satisfied or at least I'll be able to tame him better in the future. If I died the day after I turned 18, then I guess that this would be something very important to do anyway. If I can't rule the world, then at least I can understand how I got to the point of wanting it.

So, if you will join me, I must answer the question: How did we get here?