Adrift advice
Was thinking about the kid feeling listless, adrift.
At that age, living by Seattle (or anywhere, really)…if one likes music, even a little, get a guitar or a piano synth, learn two or three chords, and start writing songs while working at an ice cream store.
Or do some vocational training, electrician, nature guide, whatever attracts even a hint of interest.
Words that have helped me:
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Wild Geese poem by Mary Oliver.
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Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. Art, nature, time, finding yourself, being in love with questions rather than answers.
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Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Learn to draw and a little about how human brains work.
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Ten Things I Have Learned essay by Milton Glaser, who I later worked with in NYC. Can seem priviledged and outlandish given most people’s realities, but contains good life advice.
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Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti. What real education is, what the world tries to force on you, living through observation, listening, finding your own heart.
Others are listed here.
But those are just words, and it’s never “one size fits all” in these situations. Each kid is their own person and needs to find their own way, in the middle of the sign posts, the marketing and recruitment and advice from others.
I know other people with struggling kids, stuck on their phones. Pandemic was tough for them. As is the modern world’s competitiveness, consuming “content”, comparing self to others (and even to AI) in “social” media, and so on.
First, lets not forget we are animals, human beings, not machines.
To walk, and touch things like wood and grass and strings and keys, to draw on rock, on paper, on the sand on the beach, to create, is part of being us, part of life’s process.
One more book that I haven’t read yet, but I like the author’s other writings and works (including music): You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier.
Try and observe and listen closely to any interest they have, however small, and encourage them to listen closely to those themselves, and for goodness’ sake, don’t push or force religion, nationalism, highschool, college, grades, and career paths on them. Rather, give them the space and time they need.
I didn’t want to go to college or school back then, and don’t think I’d want to today, either 😂 At least until I spent more time to find out more about myself, so I could better help others.
Some kids do know what they want to do early, but I think most later regret having wanted to grow up and move forward quickly.
Remain a child for as long as you can, I say. Ideally until the day of your death.
And then become another.
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Possibly Related:
- Letters to a young creator
- Take a simple, basic idea, and take it very seriously
- What “Follow Your Dreams” Misses
- Deschooling
- Lets go, Texas
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Prior entry: text-wrap: balance
Next entry: Drawing 2 and some piano synths