Everything that's everything

There is an unshakeable confidence and optimism about being four years old.

Yeah Man. You CAN do everything that's everything and you can make it happen all by yourself. You can do anything. How liberating is that thought! To think: I can do anything. Or Everything. There are no limits, no reasons why I can't. I have never done that particular thing before, but I reckon I can still do it and it will be awesome!!

Four year olds are fearless. They are unapologetic and filled with enthusiasm and passion. (They are also crazy and irrational and incredibly destructive, but that doesn't really fit into the analogy I am creating, does it?)

I have always wished for My Awesome Teenager to have a life that is easier and less complicated than the one I have led. I wished for him to have choices. 

I have always said, in my younger life, I felt I was the ball in a pinball machine- being bounced and hit from one thing to the next- not making choices, just reacting to whatever the universe bounced me into. I found it difficult to envisage the future, because I didn't believe I had any part in creating it.

I want My Awesome Teenager to be the PINBALL MACHINE. Be the one who is deciding where you are bounced. Make choices. Create a life for yourself that is actually the one you want. Whatever that is, it doesn't really matter, does it? As long as you are safe and secure and happy? 

I wish he could have the confidence of a four year old too. I want for him to be able to do everything that's everything. All by himself.