let the beat build

This amazing music video by Nyle, a recent NYU grad, sums up my school pretty well. It's such a mix of spectacular talents. Performers, writers, entrepreneurs -- everyone is something fascinating. Or, like me, in the process of becoming someone fascinating! (Hopefully!)

When I was younger, I wasn't a huge fan of this process. I wanted to find my niche right away and know exactly what I'd contribute to the world. I demanded that life be unequivocally simple -- go to school, get a job, have a family, be happy. But pretty soon, I was telling myself to "relax, silly!" Because when were discovering and developing our goals ever simple? They always seem to line up, one after another, in the open door of our minds. Always with an extra plus-one called Learning, even though it never RSVPs.

But I suppose that's what "letting the beat build" is all about. (Right Nyle?) Embracing the fact that as we grow older, we expect more out of life because our passions either multiply or intensify. Last semester in Europe, just as I thought I was a real "adult," I learned even more things and took more risks to fulfill my interests than I'd ever dared to take before. (Backpacking? Couchsurfing? Um, how'd that happen?) Maybe I was dancing to the beat of life's drums all along.