Iโve spent part of this week sorting through a few boxes of artifacts (a.k.a. mostly ๐ฉ) that my parents had the good sense to purge from their house. Most is from high school and college, but some of it goes WAY back: photos and videos, old report cards, โacademic papersโ assigned and churned out (some decent, some criminally fluffy). ๐ค
Thereโs also the creative writing. (๐๐ค๐.) ๐
Iโve almost always wanted to write. But I see in a new way now that my earliest stuff, full of writerly poses and rhetorical contortions, was my way of figuring out who I was and wanted to become.
Instead of making me sentimental, itโs been a reality check โ and a reminder:
๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐, so make sure the young people in your lives are meeting lots of new people and building a broad perspective on the world (not just filling notebooks trying to understand the insides of their own brains).
๐ฑ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ, ๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ ๐บ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ โ so if change is your goal, put in the work (getting help with this is highly recommended).
โ๏ธ ๐๐ผ๐ปโ๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐, ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ปโ๐ ๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ. When figuring out where to go next (and who you want to become), you can’t take any potential outcome for granted, nor let a specific victory or setback make an outsized impression on your sense of self.
Some Friday fun, even if it makes me cringe a little: the video still is evidence (from grade 11) that mass communication would be in my future.
โNow, over to Dave with sportsโฆโ
