Knowing How It Works

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus

We’ve seemed to have transitioned into summer now, with temperatures reaching somewhere near 90 degrees on most days. We’ve had some rain, and there is hope for more over the next week. Any rain will help and be welcomed.

A benefit, or perhaps, in some cases, a curse, of being older and retired is that you have time and a vantage point to see the larger view of your past and yourself. It’s been apparent to me that I’ve always had a strong desire, almost a need, to understand how things work. I remember even as a young child when we’d travel and check into a motel, I would quickly scout the room, investigating how everything worked. It was so apparent that my parents used to laugh about it. As an adult, the follow-up is that when I see things as less than optimal or broken, I want to fix or improve them, sometimes to my own detriment.

I don’t think I really recognized or acknowledged this as such a strong, consistent trait in my life or as a factor throughout most of my working career. But I’ve now accepted that many of my earlier life decisions were made without much self-awareness. A job was simply something I had, and in some cases, had to put up with, to provide food, clothing and hopes for a better future. But I can identify that the need has influenced my life throughout.

It remains alive and well today and continues to influence my interests, including learning opportunities in photography and, more recently, in Artificial Intelligence (AI). If I could offer any advice to those who are younger, I’d say work harder to find what you deeply like and are good at. Find your talents, and don’t just dismiss the joy and commitment these talents bring you as a byproduct of other experiences.

I can only echo what Confucius said, ‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.’

Or perhaps I can offer as an alternative: “Live a life you truly love and do the things that you’re best at, and you’ll never have to look back and think, if only!”