A long time ago, I lived with a paranoid woman (I found out she was paranoid after we split up, and that explained a lot!). Since then, I've gone through all kinds of stages of anger, sadness, complete wonder at my staying with her for so long (5 years), and I couldn't figure out why I had to spend 5 years of my life with her, of which I view at least the last 3 to be hell.

Last night, I was thinking about it again, and was at the same time thinking about my current main field of work, which is computer security, and suddenly realised the connection between that and the relashionship I talked about above. You see, the security industry comes with a certain level of paranoia. This is needed, since you're basically protecting a computer system against an external or internal threat, imagined or not, and trust definition and management are two really (increasingly!) big topics.

So what dawned on me last night was that if I hadn't lived with a paranoid person, I would probably not be fit to handle the level of paranoia that comes in the security industry. I suddenly found myself being thankful for those years, even though they were hellish. And GODS, what a huge stone that lifted from my heart! GODS, is it nice to finally find meaning in that part of my life!

Sometimes, life can take amazing turns...

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