I decided the path was fixed sometime around age 32. I was wrong.
What my dinosaur-obsessed kid knows that I forgot.
My son is six. Last week he stopped mid-play, looked at me very seriously, and asked if I could feel the wings growing out of my back yet.
Because I was turning into a pterodactyl. Obviously.
I said yes… probably by Thursday. He nodded like that made total sense and went back to his dinosaurs.
I’ve been thinking about that moment all week.
When did we decide the path was fixed?
Not in a dramatic way. No one sat you down and said: here are your options, pick one, no changes. It happened in small increments. A choice that narrowed things. Then another. Then the next logical step.
At some point you stopped asking “what if I tried that” and started asking “is that realistic?”
That’s the trade. Most of us made it without noticing.
What it actually costs
It’s not some big dream you can name. Most of us can’t even find that anymore.
It’s smaller. It’s the thing you loved. Just because you loved it, not because it paid anything or made sense on a resume. The thing you were becoming before you got practical.
What if you just... reopened it?
What if, like my friend Rebecca, you started making jewelry again?
What if, like my friend Monique, you started singing again?
What if, like me, you finally published a book after 7 years of trying to?
What if you tried something you’d never even thought of, just for the hell of it?
My son doesn’t ask whether pterodactyls are realistic. He just knows the wings are coming. And honestly? That kind of certainty sounds pretty good right now.
You have my permission to try the thing you set down.
What did you quietly tell yourself you’d come back to later? Hit reply. I read every one.
P.S. If this landed, forward it to someone who needs the reminder.