It’s Not An Excuse…
Imagine growing up in a household where your parents encouraged you to follow your dreams and to expect failure when doing so, but that it's not the end, it's a learning experience. Then teaching you to analyse what you did, find the problem and help you figure out how to correct it and then go again. That learning continues after school; we should learn till the end of our days.
Instead of;
"Hey, Mum, I want to be a filmmaker."
"Why bother? You'll only fail."
Growing up in a household that didn't encourage you to do anything that wasn't the norm. You go to college, or you get a job.
You'll learn to be useful, and you'll learn a trade. If you find it hard getting a job after, It's okay; I know a guy down the pub; he's a builder. You can work as a labour and, if you're lucky, get paid £7.50 an hour. What is the relevance of growing up in a household that encourages following dreams and learning from failure?
What are the potential adverse effects of growing up in a household that doesn't encourage exploration or learning beyond the norm?
That's going to be your job until you retire. It doesn't matter if you don't like the job or if it needs to be more challenging; it doesn't test you, put you through your paces. It's your job now for the rest of your days. This is WHO you are; your identity is directly tied to this. Enjoy it, because if you don't, it doesn't matter; your enjoyment is not what life at work is about; leave that for the weekend, for now, get up at the crack of dawn, and work your fucking arse off (for shit money). Enjoyment does not pay the bills.
This is exaggerated, but it tells the story of my pre-work life. My Dad was a plumber, and my mother worked in payroll. We didn't have much money; that's not to say we were poor; we had enough to get by. But you'd think that would compel my parents to want better for us (my sister and I). It's only in the last ten years or so that we're better off, money-wise. I mean, we're not rich by any means, but we are in a position to do what we want. Its taken far too long to shake off the idea that we're not good enough to do what we want to do, to follow our dreams, and maybe, just maybe, make something of ourselves.
Leave a legacy behind.
Immortality stems from the idea that we exist so long as we're remembered. But if you achieve nothing beyond good weekends and great summer holidays on a Spanish island, then once all your friends and family are gone. And they will all die. Your memory is also gone, gone for good, never to return.
If you have a legacy, there is always a chance, however slight, that you will be resurrected after death. And the best way to resurrection is through Art.
Write something, paint something, create something. We can read books by authors that died thousands of years ago. Look at paintings from people that died hundreds of thousands of years ago. And we have far more resources (and bills) now than they had back then.