Letting go of forever

For the past many years I have been thinking about a particular question. It varies slightly from time to time, but the essence of the question is usually the same:

What/who do I want to be when i grow up?

I do not have an answer for this, at least not a consistent one. I can’t think of anything I’d like to pursue forever. But today it hit me — I don’t actually need to decide on something to do forever. Times change. People change. Interests change. We are not static beings. Humans are very dynamic. The world we live in is dynamic. I mean, think about how different folks across the different generations are.

I am not sure why I never thought otherwise, but I always figured you had to pick one thing and stick to it (I’m trying to make sure my son and nephew don’t think this BTW). I don’t think it was ever a deliberate thought either, it’s just what I saw. People picked a career and held it for life. People had a job (or a certain type of job) and held it for life. It’s how they ensured they got things done. And society rewards consistency or sameness or longevity (the term used depends on the branding). The longer you hold a job is the more likely you are to be able to get certain types of loans. The longer you hold a job is the more likely it is that you will get a pension from that job. The longer you live in a particular…