Knowing what you know now what advice would you give yourself?

The time has come for another high school reunion. How time flies when we are having fun! The class reunion committee asked us to complete a questionnaire for the event; and one of the questions was “What advice would you give yourself as a high school senior, knowing what you know, now?”

I came up with a number of responses, most of which could not possibly be effective with a 17 year old. I, like most kids at this age saw myself as immortal; invincible. I imagined the world was just like, although slightly larger than, my neighborhood. I was completing the first stage of my education and getting ready to jump into the university life, whatever that meant. I had no clue what I was going to “do” as a profession. I didn’t need to; I knew that I would somehow stumble, or be lead to a means of doing something significant. I would figure out a niche to make a difference in the world, which was just like, and just a bit larger than my neighborhood.

What could I say to this kid? How could I make this proud and sublimely confident child listen?

I would first of all share with him the twists and turns, successes and setbacks that made up my journey. And, while the rollercoaster ride was educational, it was also fraught with disappointments that I could have easily lived without. How could I have avoided some of the more significant ones? The answer comes back to either I didn’t ask the right questions or I thought I already knew the answers and didn’t ask for advice that would have steered me in a different direction.

So, ask for and get help. You can find someone who you can trust to guide you. You can find a mentor. You can find someone who will support you, and believe in you. You can find your agent.

The first topic is: what do you want to do and be when you grow up? This was difficult for me. I hadn’t found anything that I didn’t like to do, or that I couldn’t do. I was standing at a multifaceted quantum crossroad. So, without guidance, I started taking courses in Liberal Arts. History. I vaguely believed the phrase, “Those who ignore, forget, never learn, or don’t understand history, are condemned to repeat it.”

Looking back, with the benefit of creatively accurate hindsight, I can see that one needs to know more than history. One needs to know that “history” is not permanent. History is a chronology of stories that have been spun to present various points of view. It is constantly being rewritten in new context or to create a spin to support a current point of view. So, I learned history. More importantly, I learned to think. I learned the importance of questioning what I read and was told.

And I digress: It is important to be able to identify what your natural talents and tendencies are and then choose a course that would expand on these skills. If you are naturally coordinated and athletic, you would be happiest doing something that allowed you to utilize these talents. If you are musical, you would be happiest playing with music. If you love selling stuff, go into business. If you love creating order in the midst of chaos, go into accounting. If you believe in justice and fairness, go into law. If you love animals, do something and includes animals. If your passion is figuring out how things work, engineering is for you. If you like driving people around, there are several ways you can fulfill yourself. If you like controlling, be a passenger of the one driving people around. If you have a type A personality, do a lot, really fast, without stopping.

“So,” I would have told my young self, “name three things you do that make you happy. Then, learn as much as you can to do those things better.”

“Young self,” I would say, “you know how to do this at this level. To get to the next level, you must dedicate yourself to practice and following instructions from people who know more than you.”

I not only didn’t know the questions to ask, I didn’t know to ask the questions.

After graduating from university, with a degree in fine arts, I decided to work in the art gallery industry. I was a painter/sculptor. I soon learned that the most financially prosperous artists were the ones who had been picked up by major galleries in world art centers such as New York, Paris, London, or Tokyo. In other words, there was a system set up to promote this fortunate group of artists. They were no more talented than I or many of my artist friends; they were simply being efficiently promoted. Articles were written and published in the influential art journals. Advertisements were placed in these same “peer reviewed” publications that promoted group and private shows. Museums were contacted and people who knew people, worked things out. The only artists who got this scale of promotion were the ones with agents.

Consider the actors and musicians you see on TV, at the movies, and in the theater. How did they get the roles? They have agents who sell them, who promote them, and who do the tedious work of being persistently present on their behalf.

Can we take a lesson from this for our lives? You bet we can. While it may appear unseemly to persistently self promote; it is however essential to have some way of projecting a positive second person opinion about you and what you do. These are the rai·son d’ê·tre for your website and social marketing campaign. Keep your website fresh and current. Make sure that it represents the you that you are now; as opposed to the person you were five years ago or last month. Remember the history lesson!

Having your own website and Facebook page may not be enough. You still need to find someone who you can trust to guide you. You can ask for and get help. You can find a mentor. If you are entering into the animal massage and bodywork path, there are people who have paved the road for you.

PetMassageTM is one of the early pioneers and continues to be one of our industry’s leaders. PetMassageTM has, as one of its tenets, to grow the profession. We are mentors to our graduates. We offer continuing educational support, guidance, and encouragement. PetMassageTM provides opportunities for extraordinarily talented people to develop and lead their own workshops. PetMassageTM Media was created to promote and publish the works that will expand our industry’s scope of knowledge and credibility. PetMassageTM provides listings on its website of graduates with their locations and contact information. We know that it is our best interests and the best interests of the dogs of the world and their families, for our graduates to be successful.

You can find someone who will support you, and believe in you. You can find your agent. PetMassageTM fulfills that agency, young self.

1 Comment

  1. 3collins on January 12, 2022 at 5:52 PM

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