practicalityandlogic.Tenyearolds
aretransitioning,inotherwords,
fromdreamerstolawyers.
“Iwasa realartistuntilI turned
11,”cartoonistLianaFinckrecalled
ina recentinterview.At11,shestart-
edtryingtobea ‘professional’.That
changedeverything.Theperson-
alitytraitofopenness,relatedtoa
childlikestateofreceptivecuriosity,
dampensaswegrowolder,studies
show.Soyourlife’swork,if you’rean
artist,isa projectofundoing.Oflift-
ingyourfootoffthebrakeyou’veso
painstakinglylearnedtofeather.
Buthere’sthething:thiswhole
projectofrecoveringtheinnerkid
iscomplicated.Notjustbecause
mostofushaven’tseenthatkidin
a longtime.Andevenifwewereto
perfectlyrememberwhatlitusupat
ten,there’sstillthematterofhowto
scalethatfeelingtotheadultworld
oftoday.Howtoageourchildhood
gifts,asthewriterandpodcaster
JamesAltucherrecentlyputit,togive
themvalueinourlivesrightnow.
Evenifyourippedthepageoutof
yourage-tendiarythatexplicitlystat-
edyourdeepestdesire,it’dbehardto
takethattothebanktoday.When
I wasten,I wantedtobeinadvertis-
ing.Mywifemighthavepreferredif
I’dstucktothosemarchingorders;
wemightbelivingina housewithan
actualyard.Thenagain,I’dbehawk-
ingwrinklecream.SoI guessthe
recipeis,youtakethatten-year-old
voice,runit throughthefilterofwhat
youcanlivewith,andmakepeace
withtheresult.PSYCHOLOGYTODAY(MARCH 15 ANDMARCH
26,2019),© 2019 BYBRUCEGRIERSON,
PSYCHOLOGYTODAY.COM.BrainTeasers
1.Aboyiswalkingdowntheroadwitha doctor.
Whiletheboyisthedoctor’sson,thedoctorisnottheboy’sfather.
Thenwhoisthedoctor?2.ArnoldSchwarzeneggerhasa longone.MichaelJ.Foxhasa shortone.
Madonnadoesnotusehers.BillGatesalwaysuseshis.
ThePopeneveruseshis.Whatisit?3.Yourparentshavesixsonsincludingyouandeachsonhasonesister.
Howmanypeopleareinthefamily?4.Whatmakesmoreasyoutakethem?- the doctor is the boy’s mother. 2. surname. 3. nine. two parents, six sons, and one
daughter. all of them have one sister (not six sisters). 4.footsteps.134 march 2020
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