There used to be a commercial that said “Be All You Can Be.” It was recruiting slogan for the U.S. Army. I wouldn’t be surprised if your parents once said to you that you could be anything you wanted to be, even President or a fireman.
Instead of thinking that way, consider approaching it with a different slogan I don’t know yet what I can become. If you had told me fifty, forty, twenty years ago I could be come a novelist I would have told you “your were crazy.” But here I am.
However if you adopt the attitude of saying “What will I become” you will learn things about yourself you never dreamed. Over time you will open paths that you could not have imagined, out of which emerge options that you had never seen possible before. You actually become a different person.
You can’t plan out everything in your life, but you can think in terms of creating the conditions that allow for the possibility of rich growth.
Webb: Amen to that. Don’t ever relegate oneself to “where you are” as a permanent state. Always seek some measure of improvement: knowledge, friendships, experiences and sharing with others. You will find you “Become” something completely unforeseen or unplanned….
D
Thank you Dick. Wisdom indeed. W.