So I want to take a break from fantasy again and talk about something a bit more personal. When I was younger there were a couple times that I was told a phrase that really shaped who I am now and who I was at the time. I think everyone has these phrases whether we think about them or not. It wasn’t until recently that I thought about them in this context that I truly recognized the impact they had on me.
The first one was from an old friend of my dad’s who also happened to be a former school principle of mine. If you live in a small town this happens more than you think. But it must have been around my birthday because of the phrase that came up. He inquired about my birthday and upon learning when it was looked at me and told me that people born in the month I was born in were meant to do great things. Looking back on this as an adult it was probably a way to make me feel good, and it did, but there was another impact on me. This phrase stuck with me and has pushed me to be a better person throughout my life and strive to do great things even if that means that it gave me a perfectionist streak and I slowly finish the things I want to do.
The second one came from a school friend of mine when were hanging out between years in college. We were discussing career paths and how he wanted to be a youth minister and pursue that as a career and what I wanted to do. At the time I wanted to be a famous musician and had strived to do this. As we talked more and more he turned to me and said, “I don’t think you’d ever be happy riding a desk for the rest of your life.” This, unbeknownst to me, would stick with me for the rest of my life, or at least for the next few years. Recently I have strived for that desk job. Romanticizing it and eventually finding out that it was not what I wanted. That can be seen in my Office Suffering Series. I have chased that stability and tried to find it but where I have felt most at home and done some of my best work, according to me so take that as you will, has been when I have been working on my own and now riding a desk for income. Yes, the desk job has more income and if I could find a job willing to let me write and have a desk I would gladly take it, but most of the jobs I have found have not been for anything creative they have been very strict in their guidelines and the management structure has been worse.
I say all of these things to ask a question: What phrases were you told when you were younger that really stuck with you? Which ones molded you into the person you are today without you really ever knowing it or putting too much thought into it. Please let me know so I know I’m not the only one with these moments in their life.
Grayson C. Beane 