it’s just a phase / it’s not just a phase, mom!

It’s true that younger people tend to not be so great at estimating how long something might last, because they haven’t had a lot of life experience yet. That said, it’s not necessarily true that older people are great estimators either.

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I find myself reflecting on the “phases” of my own youth. I was really into basketball for a while. But I don’t think I ever really believed I was going to go pro with it. I thought it would be cool if I could play for a school team, but that never materialised. I haven’t played ball in years, though id still like to, casually. I look forward to introducing my son to it

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Tyson saying his trophies are garbage… lots of people, upon attaining some measure of success, fairly quickly seem to realize afterwards that it doesn’t bring lasting fulfilment. Obama talked about this re: becoming president. The pomp and ceremony wears off quick. The stresses persist. Jim Carrey, Matt Damon. I remember comments in Shaq about loneliness… people dying of thirst can’t imagine that water poisoning is real

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But I bring that up in the context of thinking and taking about phases… there was a time where those medals meant a lot to Tyson. And who would he have been if he never had those? I used to be conflicted about whether I could discern my true feelings about these things, and now I find it very clarifying to think about what I’d tell my son. I would say, winning feels good. But it’s not everything. Michael Phelps has depression. But out of millions of depressed people only one guy has all those medals and records