An note to young people in their late 20s worried about missing the boat
March 28 2011, 10:04 PM
Education is a great leveller. All through grade school and high school you
likely feel like you and your friends and peers are all in the same boat.
This may even continue until undergraduate studies in university or
college. After that, you and your peers start to diverge. Some go on to
graduate school, others work and careers, some may travel, and others may
find themselves unemployed or worse. From there things diverge further.
Some will marry and have children. They will buy houses and cars. Others
will take on very successful careers. Watching them all reaching for and
achieving major milestones in life, you may feel you have missed the boat.
You might think: why aren't I having a fantastic career? Where is my
beautiful house? Where is my beautiful spouse? You may look at others with
envy or jealousy and wish you were not stuck on the dock, so to speak,
while the others sail on. The truth is, even when people sail off, it is never the case that it all
smooth sailing. Those boats are anything but effortless and the people
sailing them may regret them after time. Even for those whose sailing has
been happy, eventually the sails wear down, the boat leaks and cracks, and
the trip ends. Careers end, get stuck, or take a heavy toil on many. For
every good spouse there is just as likely a bad one. And even the
loveliests of homes can be made worthless in an unhappy family. So do not envy the ships of others. Craft your own boat, however modest it
might be, and set your own course, however unusual it may be. You will find
that some of those other seafarers will look to you and wish at least for a
time that they were sailing with you.
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Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.
likely feel like you and your friends and peers are all in the same boat.
This may even continue until undergraduate studies in university or
college. After that, you and your peers start to diverge. Some go on to
graduate school, others work and careers, some may travel, and others may
find themselves unemployed or worse. From there things diverge further.
Some will marry and have children. They will buy houses and cars. Others
will take on very successful careers. Watching them all reaching for and
achieving major milestones in life, you may feel you have missed the boat.
You might think: why aren't I having a fantastic career? Where is my
beautiful house? Where is my beautiful spouse? You may look at others with
envy or jealousy and wish you were not stuck on the dock, so to speak,
while the others sail on. The truth is, even when people sail off, it is never the case that it all
smooth sailing. Those boats are anything but effortless and the people
sailing them may regret them after time. Even for those whose sailing has
been happy, eventually the sails wear down, the boat leaks and cracks, and
the trip ends. Careers end, get stuck, or take a heavy toil on many. For
every good spouse there is just as likely a bad one. And even the
loveliests of homes can be made worthless in an unhappy family. So do not envy the ships of others. Craft your own boat, however modest it
might be, and set your own course, however unusual it may be. You will find
that some of those other seafarers will look to you and wish at least for a
time that they were sailing with you.
-----------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.