Tip o’ the hat to Tom Petty for today’s subject line.
All my life has been about waiting.
When I was a kid, and I wanted to do things, I was always told ‘Just wait until you’re a bit older ….’ In some cases it was justified (like wanting to drive myself to the library). In most though, it was a matter of learning patience (and finding the best bike path to the library.)
Then came the well meaning advice as I became a teenager and started trying to find me way in the world ‘You can do that when you’re older …’ or ‘You can do that when you become an adult and can run you’re own life ….’
This was often said in response to my proposed career paths. “You can’t make any money running a bookstore’, ‘you can’t make animated cartoons’, ‘you can’t build electronic gadgets’.
‘You need to do something practical to make money so you don’t starve to death. Put aside this nonsense and go into [some practical field of endeavor].’
Well, you can make money running a bookstore, if you’re the person running it (just like all retail businesses – the person running the business makes the money, the store clerks, not so much.) These days, everyone keeps shouting the death of bookstores, what with the flood of ebooks, and the many streams of entertainment over the Internet, and the fact that major bookstore chains, and many small independent bookstores are shutting down. Maybe it’s true now (I hold the line of defense against that argument) but it wasn’t true when I was a kid.
You can make money making animated cartoons. Much like retail, it depends on which end of the process you’re on. Disney, Pixar, and other studios have certainly proven this is true.
You can make money building electronic gadgets. Here I’ve got one word for you – Apple.
Once I got out into the world, all the hobbies I wanted to pursue were also met with ‘you can do that later, you have to focus on supporting yourself so you don’t starve to death, lose your house, and end up on the street like a bum.’
I’ve made the trip around the sun more than enough times to be aware of how fleeting time is, and how very short our lives are. And still I’m waiting. There’s a saying ‘Beware the fury of the patient man.’ I’ve been patient. And I’ve waited far too long. I’m still working on things, trying to support myself financially, and run a business. But the point has come that I want to do those things that I’ve been told me whole life that I need to put off doing.
I need to carve out time in my hectic schedule to do the things I want. Simple things like reading more, but more audacious things like learning to draw, or make video games, or swing poi.
I’ve been told I have the patience of a saint. I’m tired of waiting. Time to do.
If you liked this look into the way my mind works, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum