In celebration of her newly released book, Like Mandarin (my copy is in the mail somewhere over Canada!), Kirsten Hubbard asked her followers (and non followers) to post about this on our blogs:
This is someone we had a longing to be like as a teen.
For me, this describes one of my friends. Cheryl was an incredible artist. I wanted to be just like her. Not necessarily an artist. But someone who was so passionate about something, she wanted to make a career out of it. Fortunately Cheryl was smart. She knew how difficult this would be, so she planned to be an art teacher, too.
I wanted to be like her because I didn’t have that passion and dedication for anything. Heck, I didn’t even know what I wanted to do when I graduated. It took me years to realize I wanted to write novels (I was in grad school at the time). It was something I had thought of doing when I was a teen, but then gave up on the idea because I thought you had to be born with the talent to do it. Same deal with photography.
Now I know better. Now I know both come from hard work and determination. A creative gene doesn’t hurt either (thanks, Mom!).
This is the reason I encourage my kids to find something they’re passionate about, even if it’s just for now. I want them to have the opportunity to be just like my high school friend.
Were you passionate about something as a teen? Did it shape your future dreams/goals?