I remember:
When I was ten, I don’t think I really had a concept of what I wanted to be career-wise when I grew up; the only thing that I knew was that I would be older. Perhaps that lack of focus, the unavailability of a solid goal to guide me, was part of the reason that I am still not where I would truly like to be in my desired profession.

I used to tell people I wanted to be a pediatrician, though, because I wanted to give kids shots and make them cry. I’d heard it somewhere and thought it was funny at the time, and since I like to make people laugh I would tell them that. I’d get some laughs, probably because people were all, “kids say the darnedest things!”

But really I look back with my current perspective and realize that I wasn’t taking my future seriously. But why should I have, the kid asks? Indeed, I could have used some explanation of why I should have a goal – a serious goal to work toward achieving. Chunk it up, hit small milestones on the way – don’t float through life all laissez-faire, because that’s where the scam artists step in and ruin your track later on; because when you fall behind it can be so hard to catch back up.

It takes more discipline to be disciplined when you’re not used to exercising discipline on your own primal desires. And so I would tell this kid, start with the end in mind, and make sure that everything you do from now on has something to do with where you want to end up.

You always write your own story.

This post was prompted by today’s Daily Post prompt and their Weekly Writing Challenge.

Other bloggers remember:

• Weekly writing challenge | Flow of my soul
• Weekly writing challenge | Kids “R” Simple