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So, I was thinking today about "possible selves". When you are a kid, your life possibilities are infinite. You may have been told that you can be whatever you want when you grow up. And kids dream big, don't they? First grade classes are filled with future firefighters, ballet dancers, singers, presidents, and astronauts.
By the time you are ready to graduate high school, you may have narrowed it down. I'm going to do "X", and if that doesn't work out, then I will do "Y". You still may have 2 or 3 possible selves.
Then you get married, pop out a kid or three, get a job that you begin to depend on, and VOILA! Your possible selves all but disappear. This is it.
This may seem bleak, but there is good news. You can still indulge and nurture your vestiges of possible selves in many ways, even after you think you have discarded them. Or, better yet, you may be so happy with the self you have chosen that you don't ever think about your possible selves anymore.
I doubt that, though. I have never been content with doing the same thing for the rest of my life. And if that's what you have been doing, well...maybe you just better watch some Tom and Jerry, eat some Corn Nuts, and remember some of those possible selves from all those years ago. Then step into those shoes for a while. Maybe they won't be as uncomfortable as you feared.
-jen
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