It’s Not Too Late to Start that New Endeavor

 *As a little preface note, this is blog post is either for people just approaching 30 or approaching 40, but I think everyone can take a little something from this one. 

I finished up my last paper for college - a proposal essay on how adults should go after making some new hobbies. I won’t be posting that essay here because I totally phoned it in. I only got an A because I just followed the rubric closely. But that’s just my theory. Maybe I will. You know, for the CONTENT. 

But the subject sticks with me. Especially since next year I’ll be 30. A big year if you’re younger than 30 since it’s the first indicator of ‘the end.’ Which isn’t true by the way, since 30 is still so damn young. You place just about any achievement with “… at age 30,” and suddenly it becomes exceptional. “Wrote a book at 30,” “Died at the age of 30,” “Became President of the United States at age 30.” You look at those possible headlines at figure, “Damn! That person was young!” Yeah, because 30 is fucking young, still. However, I digress. 

I couldn’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to above the age of 50 who talk about doing new things. Hell, people in their 40’s even do so if they’re beaten by life so much. I see the glint in their eye when talking about the thing they want to do be it a comic book, learn the piano, take up art, etc. Then I, usually being an encouraging guy, will say something along the lines of, “Hey man, you should do that precise thing.” Then the glint goes away, their eyes nearly going opaque, and say, “It’s too late for that.” 

I’m here to say that’s complete horse shit. You’re still alive, ain’t ya? Then it’s not too late; at its simplest form. When it comes to some new things, you really have to give yourself a chance. You’re the one that wants to do the new thing after. I think there’s a couple of hypotheses as to why that may be:

1. Life has beaten them down a little too bad. 

Life is generally a cruel mistress that’ll take everything you love and then take you with it. No one gets out of this life alive, right? It’s true that too many failures take a hit on the self esteem, but we need to healthily accept our situations and turn it into something good. It’s like an emotional alchemy. We can make some pretty cool things in the meantime. Why not ease the pain a little bit with a painting that’s been on your mind? It can be done.

2. There’s this unusual expectation that we need to be perfect./It takes awhile to achieve being content with a new skill.

I’m not sure if it’s just in our society, culture, or in our psychology as a species, but we strive for perfection where perfection just doesn’t exist. I’m 100% guilty of striving for perfection. It was until I read this one quote that I decided when a piece is “good enough” and that I could let go with some degree of comfort. It was “It’s not that we’re aiming for perfection, but are rather afraid of how our best will be received.” That struck a chord with me. Sometimes we gotta let the piece go and allow it to be judged on its own merit, but it will be finished by that time. It’s a healthy way to go about it. 

I added the second part instead of making it its own point for a few reasons. One is that my notes on it are just a sentence, really. The other being that it goes hand and hand with this insane climb to perfection. We really need to give ourselves permission to falter on our way to learning something new. It’s unfamiliar to us, give yourself the chance to explore and allow yourself to learn from mistakes. That’s how masters are made after all. If you do something long enough, eventually you will stop sucking, but you have to put in the work. 

3. It’s scary to start something new; something usually reserved for the young.

If you’re afraid to do something because of the reasons above, is the fear of never doing it at all more horrifying than not? If so, that’s your call to do the thing. 

It may be scary, but regrets are much more terrifying than any failure. Keep the faith and get to work. Much love to all who wants to go on that journey. You can do this.