I never had the luxury of being a Johnny One-Note. I was booted from High School early and ran out of my home to avoid an inevitable confrontation with my father about it. What I left with was my guitar, maybe five dollars, a change of clothes in a suitcase, and a lot of desperation. Over the next year or so, until I went on the Road as a Pius Itinerant, I hobbled together a life as a waiter, time clock salesman, janitor, and, importantly, as a coffeehouse folksinger in Greenwich Village.
Sometimes these efforts were not enough to keep a roof over my head, and I slept in alleys, on rooftops, and on the floor of any friend’s apartment who’d have me over for a night or two.
I know this sounds like a desperate and inauspicious beginning, but I eventually became a trained anthropologist, a professional videographer, and a pro woodcarver. I have a bachelor’s and master’s degree and most of my P.hd completed. How? To achieve as I did, I had to be flexible, willing to learn, and eager to work hard. The combination of those three is a powerful propellant. And an aid wherever you are in your life.
Additionally, old skills never cease to be relevant. When I finished grad school, I couldn’t find a job as an anthropologist. In the early years, I had worked as a Surgical Technician. I returned to that for a living for two years until a job as an anthropologist opened up.
I had a wonderful career as an applied anthropologist for about fifteen and a half years. The Reinvention of Government ended that. My next career reinvention was as a marine woodcarver, formerly a beloved hobby. And soon after that, I began to work as a professional videographer, a skill I had learned during my years working as an anthropologist – Never stop learning new skills.
The willingness to learn and work hard are often cited as key skills, but it’s flexibility that turns the combination into a powerhouse triad.
By the way, I never finished a high school diploma; it didn’t stop me.
What’s the most underrated life skill?
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This is an amazing trajectory, told in a nutshell, but I would add cleverness, resilience and creativity, just to name a few, to your life skills, Lou.
Left home early here too. Worked a number of jobs, finishing my undergrad along the way, and then later, a bachelor of education put me in the classroom. You are right. It took willingness to work hard.
As they used to say, VJ, it built character.
Sure did!
There is something to be said for finding your own way.
Flexibility certainly matters, but I think adaptation may matter even more. Being flexible allows us to bend when circumstances change. Adaptation asks us to learn from that change and figure out how to move forward afterward.
Sometimes the path laid out for us simply doesn’t fit. Other times, there isn’t a path at all. So we learn what we need to learn, use what we already know, stumble a few times, and adjust. Eventually, we may discover that the person capable of handling where we are now isn’t quite the same person who started the journey.
Perhaps that is the real gift of adaptation. We aren’t simply surviving change. We are allowing experience to teach us how to navigate it.
Life has a funny way of making some of our carefully drawn maps useless.
Eventually, you learn to trust the compass instead.
I love your statement that “Life has a funny way of making some of our carefully drawn maps useless.” And I agree that adaptability is key. I didn’t think of that as I was writing this last night, but adaptability is included in my take on flexibility.
From reading your blog I’m assuming that like me you’ve had an interesting life and times. Sometimes when I was in the middle of mine I wished for some peace and quiet, but how boring it must be to just live a conventional life!
A clear-eyed view of reality doesn’t hurt, either, you know, “HFS, this isn’t working.” Good essay, Lou!!!
Gee! How did you know I said “HFS, this isn’t working” a lot?
Group W bench, remember?