Do What You Love!

Fellow Coloradan, 17-year-old Red Gerard from Silverthorne, just became the youngest male Olympic snowboarding champion ever. He didn't seem particularly daunted by his success. On the morning of his winning run, the ridiculous child overslept and then couldn't find his ski jacket, so he had to borrow his roommate's (anyone else ever had a teenager?). He staggered off to the slopes, put in an awesome run, was shocked out of his shoes to find he had won gold, and now apparently just wants to get back to doing what he loves most -- snowboarding. "I'm kind of excited for this media stuff to end so I can get back to snowboarding," he offered at a recent press conference. 

While he was sufficiently thrilled with his medal to emit a very strong expletive and to indulge in some ebullient celebrations, it appears that, to him, the medals and trophies are secondary to having fun on the slopes.

Something I've always wanted for my children is that they "find their bliss." I hope they forge lives where they are able to do the things that provide them with deep, abiding happiness and joy. I want them to experience exuberant lives of creativity and playfulness that provide them with a deep sense of purpose.

Henry David Thoreau famously wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things..”


No, no, no. Please, not that for my children. I hope they can always do what makes them feel alive and fulfilled and that constantly provides them with direction and purpose. Red Gerard is a ski bum first and foremost and a purely incidental Olympic gold medalist. 

Do what you want to do, do it with love and joy, and the rest will take care of itself.