It's three fold.

1. Firstly, this just my opinion. I give the West 40 years of stability (and that's my optimistic side) - whether it'll be climate related or political tensions - I personally don't think the US will go through that time period without a civil, revolutionary, or climate war. Let alone dragging every nation into it. Again that's just my pessimism - so I was like hell, if the worlds going to shit at least coming out of the ashes I'll have an important role to play being one who studied morality, ethics, thought, astronomy, stem, and whatever else you want to fit under the umbrella that is Philosophy. I personally just think of it as the school of thought. Augustine put it so eloquently, "Whilst [scientists] study the truth, philosophers study the author of the truth" (from his Confessions if y'all wanna read). I felt as though the history of philosophy fits with this idea very well and it gave my pessimism some hope.

2. Secondly, I am not sure how much of an impact this had (but it definitely had some), I love Naruto. Like loved the show as a kid and grew up the same age as Naruto when Shippuden came out - and I was fascinated by the fact a world can exist of villains and heroes, each justified in their own right, yet each acting in such opposite ways all for the sake of themselves or others. As Madara said - with way too much accuracy - "Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world. The longer you live, the more you realize that the only things that truly exist in this reality are merely pain, suffering and futility. Listen, everywhere you look in this world, wherever there is light, there will always be shadows to be found as well. As long as there is a concept of victors, the vanquished will also exist. The selfish intent of wanting to preserve peace, initiates war. and hatred is born in order to protect love. There are nexuses causal relationships that cannot be separated." I have been searching for an answer to this and truly believe philosophy was a route not only to understanding those nexuses, but understanding how they create a world of villains and heroes, good and bad, black and white, each justified in its own right.

3. Thirdly, I loved the ancient Greeks. Socrates I wish there were more of and Plato, oml Plato (mind you a close ancestor to Alexander the Great) wrote such beautiful ideas. Not only challenging religion, but challenging the world order of Athens, and the relation that city state had to the world. He shaped some of the greatest minds and helped build parts of society that stretch into our modern laws, policies, and morals. But what about them made me choose philosophy? The allegory of the cave really. Understanding it not as a story format, but as an evolution of knowledge that one ought to seek. To not only be aware of our beliefs, but to grow to understand where those beliefs were formed, and to understand the knowledge which guided those beliefs to fruition. And finally in what way the knowledge and beliefs we have tie us to the nexuses of the world (a tl;dr is probably best if googled). If knowledge was not isolated in any one major than why narrow my mind to simply math or computer science or economics when the knowledge I was seeking was entirely different.

I apologize if this doesn't quite answer the curiosity - as my first comment might look I am in doubt if it was worth it (luckily I doubled in political science 🥵I can gladly become one of our corrupt politicians lol)

Tl;dr 1st. Worlds going to shit, the aftermath will need thinkers. 2nd. Naruto Shippuden, Madara's speech and the world of humans forced into "bad" and "good" actions, each justified in their own choices. 3rd. The Greeks: Socrates, Plato (specifically his allegory of the cave).