Adrift advice

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Was thinking about the kid feeling listless, adrift.

At that age, living by Seattle (or anywhere, really)…if he likes music, maybe encourage him to 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 he shows some interest in?

Words that helped me when I was younger:

  1. Wild Geese poem by Mary Oliver.

  2. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. Art, nature, time, finding yourself, being in love with questions rather than answers.

  3. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Learn to draw and a little about how human brains work.

  4. 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.

  5. 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 it’s never “one size fits all” in these situations. Each kid is their own person and needs to find their own way, even with sign posts and advice from others.

I know others with kids who are struggling, 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 these kids have, however small, and encourage them to listen closely to those themselves, and for goodness’ sake, don’t push or force religion, highschool, college, grades, and career paths on them.

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.

Some kids do know what they want to do early, but I think most later regret wanting to grow up and move forward so 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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