Do you have supportive people in your life? But like overly supportive, where it’s not actually a good thing.
I’ll casually say I want to do a very specific thing with my life, and for whatever reason, people believe me. They even believe in me, actively working to motivate me to follow through in my newfound endeavour.
The other day I saw a drawing of a chair made out of a contorted llama and said, to no one in particular, to no one at all in particular, to no one at all, “You know, I’d like to be a furniture designer.”
My friend goes, “You can. You can definitely do that if you want. You should. You’ll be great at it!”
Yah, I know I maybe could. But it’s crazy you think I was serious enough that I’m willing to put the fairly high amount of effort into making it actually happen, considering the short amount of time I’d been considering it at all.
I’d have to go to school for 2 years, maybe 18 months if I get accepted into an accelerated program.
I’d have to quit my job. And take out a substantial loan to support my complete devotion to my decided craft.
All because one day I had a fleeting thought about making a chair out of Rice Krispies squares, and then you had to go and believe in me.
Besides, I’m not even sure I meant it when I initially made the declaration. Like even if I suddenly magically acquired all the necessary skills required to be a successful furniture designer, I have no idea what that actually entails, the daily life of a furniture designer. If I think about it even one bit, it’s probably a lot of time trying to find a wood that looks like the original wood but is a bit cheaper. And having to deal with expensive suppliers and unreliable partners.
Like even if I suddenly, magically acquired all the necessary skills required to be a really great at designing furniture, I have absolutely no idea what’s actually involved in the daily life of a furniture designer. If I think about it even one bit, it’s probably a lot of time trying to find a wood that looks like the original wood but is a bit cheaper. And having to deal with expensive suppliers, delayed shipments, all that.
And I might start a company, with someone I meet in school. I’ll be the creative person, dealing with making the best Rice Krispies chairs or whatever, and she’ll be the money person, because she understands the business side better than me.
Eventually the company will get pretty successful, and there will be articles written about us in Furniture Digest, or Chesterfields Weekly, about how great our partnership works, what an asset we are to the design community, all of that.
But I’ll forget to keep her in check, so she’ll cook the books a bit. She’ll realize she can embezzle most of our cash into an offshore account, then she’ll move to Guatemala to live like a queen under a new identity, leaving me here all alone, with no money, to clean up the mess she made.
So NO, MEG, I won’t be becoming a furniture designer, and you can’t make me!
[Editor’s note: Although he won’t be following through with this career, the author would like to thank you for believing in him, Meghan.]