Yesterday, I took my nephew to the open house at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Leo is forever drawing spaceships, describing schemes for Artificial Intelligence applications, and concocting Star Wars plots. That said, it would be easy to pigeonhole an 11-year old as a future engineer. But once we arrived, Leo’s interests looked much more complex — he was attracted not only to math and computers, but also to the dramatic stories of space exploration we heard and saw.
I was reminded how much my own parents, and other adults, “branded” me when I showed some skill in music. And that’s perfectly understandable. Eager to get me started on something at which I’d excel, it was decided that I was a little Mozart, or perhaps even a child prodigy (on the oboe?) As I graduated from an arts high school that offered few academics, my choices faded without the chance to explore my true childhood interests, which had been architecture and veterinary medicine.
It wasn’t until many years after graduation from music conservatory that I came back to those original passions — realizing that I’d been living someone else’s dream throughout the prime of life. Even though I studied math and science in my 30s, the barriers to entry in other fields became much higher as a I aged. But it wasn’t too late — and is *never* too late — to make a change. I started listening to my true talents and ambitions, instead of plugging into a ready-made career that would satisfy others.
As a result, I’m jetting off to Bali to shoot a television travel series I’m creating about world music, I’ve invented a new speaking topic about finding your own flair for genius, and I’m well into my second book, a novel. Watching my nephew grow up, I’m reminded that young people need encouragement and guidance, but also the space to evolve in their unique way — to find that combination of interests and talents that inexplicably resonates.
Maybe Leo will be an astronaut. Perhaps he’ll design spaceships — or teach second grade, create oil paintings, or start an accounting firm. It’s too early to know, and it’ll change a few times. But the gift in watching a young person develop is in seeing the potential in us all — at any age. It’s all inside. It’s just a matter of finding the riches within.
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