I’ve been fascinated by videos since I was 9 years old. I wanted to be a movie director so I used to write stories and scripts during school and rally the neighborhood friends together to direct and film them in the evenings. It makes sense that I’m back into videos 14 years later.
This is my current narrative. I can create a narrative that makes it clear that my “passion” has always been making videos, but the truth is that it hasn’t always been that clear to me. After I dropped out of college I didn’t jump right back to working on videos. I bounced around multiple different industries for about 3 years. During that time my video-making days at age 9 was an insignificant part of my life that didn’t contribute to my narrative.
Even now I question this narrative. It could still change a year from now. At each point in my life, my backwards-facing narrative has evolved and changed as I have.
Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about how he was fascinated by the night sky ever since visiting the Hayden Planetarium at age 9. It was at that moment that he decided he would dedicate his life to uncovering the secrets of the universe. This is his narrative.
But what if he wasn’t always that convicted? What if when he was a 16-year-old wrestler in high school, he questioned his passion for the cosmos? What if he wasn’t sure he could make a career out of pondering the night sky and considered other options like wrestling or entrepreneurship?
Now, 40+ years after making that decision, after having developed mastery in his field, his narrative is clear. As he honed in his strengths and explored within his passion, it became increasingly clear to him that he had made the right decision. The significance of that moment when he was 9 years old grew with time.
Knowing he’s a human being, I’m willing to bet he had moments of doubt early on in his career. His narrative could have been shaped a myriad of ways including options where that fateful moment at the Hayden Planetarium was an insignificant detail of his life and career.
People who are deep into their careers have very clear narratives. When you have more data points to pull from, you can connect the dots more easily to make a more cohesive story. But when you’re only 20 years old and have a million different career options and not one clear passion, it can be overwhelming. How can you still not know your passion when other people have had it figured out since they were 9 years old?
They didn’t. They questioned their passion just as much as you do, and they only developed a strong understanding of it after years of practice, trial and error, and self-discovery. When you’re 5-10 years into one specific career field, you’ll find yourself pulling relevant moments from your childhood to help you craft your own narrative.
Let your narrative unfold with your life. Don’t rush it, and don’t think you’re behind where you should be. It becomes more clear as you do more things.