Do you Care to Be Curious?
I grew up in New York, but spent the most formative years of my life (17 to 37) in Washington, DC. In other words, I landed there a kid out of high school and left a home-owning parent. I’m not sure what gets more formative than that.
Anyway, I had the opportunity to travel back there recently, and that prompted some reflection. I saw some places I’d taken my kids way back when that were completely the same and then some others that were completely different. What’s true is that either you or the world is always moving on.
But rather than make this a big piece about big things like that, I’m going to make it a small piece about me (my favorite topic!) and about the compliment I got from my friend and mentor Bill Mann when we went to visit and have dinner with him at his new pub in Vienna, VA (shoutout Hawk & Griffin…get the fish & chips).
First of all, I love Bill and the fact that he now owns a pub. We should all aspire to be a part of a neighborhood gathering place we adore, and the fact that he hosts a quiz night there every Wednesday made me envious (the only person that might take him down should they compete in that venue is my son, the 3x GeoBee champion).
But as Bill was treating us to fish & chips Emily (who else?) asked him to tell some embarrassing stories about me. Bill demurred (despite many obvious candidates) and so Emily, switching gears, asked if he ever thought this kid from NY via DC would ever find himself in mid-MO doing a prescribed burn of a native wildflower meadow (which is something I do annually because when we moved to Missouri, we moved to Missouri)?
Then Bill, after ruing the fact that he still hasn’t traveled out to help (shoutout Clayton and James who do, though admittedly they live here), said, “I didn’t know where this kid was going to end up, but ever since I’ve known him he has cared about knowing how things work and dove into finding out. So does it surprise me that he is now doing a burn in Missouri? No.”
I about cried. It was one of the nicest things I’ve ever heard said about me.
Now, this whatever-it-is is not supposed to be about me, but since I write it, it tends to traffic in ideas I’ve learned or observed over time. One of those that I put forth a while back is that we should all care enough to be curious.
But it’s one thing to write something and another to live it, so the reason I so greatly appreciated Bill’s comment is because it confirmed that someone saw in me something I aspire to be (which is to care and be curious). And that feels good.
What are the takeaways?
One is to make sure you’re doing things that you care enough about to be curious about and therefore really dive into doing them. This means you avoid the dreaded going through the motions and ensures you will have fun while also achieving at a high level, which is something others will notice.
Another is to tell people what you see in them, and particularly so if it’s good, because it will never go unappreciated. Self-assessment is hard and imposter syndrome is a real thing we all deal with. This isn’t to say that we’re phonies (as Holden Caulfield would allege), but rather that it’s hard to be and know that you are who you want to be. But if you try to be it genuinely and consistently, the world should and will see it in time and eventually.
Finally, while this is normally where I’d say have a great weekend on this flippant Friday, it’s Spring Break! We have some plans and so therefore plan to take a few weeks off to recharge. See you on the flip side, have a great time in the meantime, and we (mostly SarahGW) promise to finish S3 (huh?), whenever it is that we come back, strong.
-Tim
