YinvsYang

Growing up, probably like most of you, I always wondered if I was going to be special at something.  I was told I was special many times by teachers, parents, grandparents, and other relatives (admittedly sometimes mockingly).  However, deep down inside, I really wondered, if I was special at anything, because it certainly did not seem like it.

I would try all sorts of things hoping I would be naturally talented in it.  Throughout school, I tried baseball, hockey, soccer, guitar, tennis, marketing, business, math, science, English, French, writing, film making and countless other things.  Yet, in each one of them I found the same situation:  I was not special at it, and it would take really hard work to be so.

As you get older, you naturally start to focus more on money.  Maybe I would be special at making money, I thought.  However, once again, I found myself in the same situation.  It takes hard work, patience, persistence, and time to attain wealth, or any other goal for that matter.

It turns out, I have not found anything I was born special in, ever.  Not one single thing.

I found that I was talented in film, though mostly, it was only because I loved to do it.  I also had some glimpses of talent in writing, and editing, but again, it was because I enjoyed it. So, all my hopes as a kid of being born special, my expectations of being this special person who did special things, all went out the window.  That is, until I realized that the issue was not me, it was my expectations.

I was expecting to be naturally special at something.  I was waiting for the easy route.  I thought great people like Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky were just born special.  I did not think they started out just like me.  No way.  They were superstars, not little kids from Brooklyn.

However, time is life’s greatest teacher.  As I got older and looked back at my journey, I realized one common theme:  I was looking to be special, without actually trying to work for it. Instead of thinking other successful people were special, or smarter, or more resourceful than me, I started to understand we are all pretty much the same.

“People are not special.  They just do special things.”

I’m not sure where I read that quote, or something like it, but it always stayed with me.  It is the truest of all things in life that I have learned thus far.  Growing up, parents always try to make you feel special.  So do your relatives, teachers, and other influential people.  But, in my opinion, this can be a mistake.  Parents do it out of love, and we feel good, but is it good preparation for life?  Probably not.

In truth, the only way to become special is to earn it.  No one is born special.  It takes hard work, dedication, and most of all, time.   Therefore, the pressure is off.  None of you have to hope to be special at anything.  It is much easier than that.  All you have to do is to keep doing whatever it is you love, because…

Special is not something you are, it is something you become.

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