Today’s Life Lesson From an Old Lady
Today’s Life Lesson From an Old Lady:
Pursue the dreams that seem best for you.
Not what the talking heads tell you.
Not what seems like the trend.
Not to be cool, popular or to be in with the in-crowd (again… I am old…)
Let me give you an example…
Back in the previous century, I was taking classes at my local Community College.
And I was a total tech geek (which for a woman in her 30’s was unusual, but that’s how I roll).
It was the early 90’s.
It was all so new.
It really was a golden age.
I took all of the MS office classes (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint)
Also, HTML and later JavaScript (more about this later…).
I dabbled in a lot of coding classes. The most popular at the time was Visual Basic (now referred to as Visual Basic Classic).
It was the hardest class to get into. I had to petition it.
The hype:
- EVERYONE is doing it.
- It’s going to be the game changer.
- If you’re serious about programming you must take this class.
- All the other languages are crap.
Everyone in the class seemed to be so excited and felt so damned privileged to be included in the wave of the future…
But after a few classes, I dropped it. Can’t tell you why. It just wasn’t happening for me. Just didn’t resonate.
I guess I was just listening to what was inside of me.
So… now it’s 2026….
HTML and JavaScript… still here…
Visual Basic (Classic), 1991 – 2008
Yes, I do know Visual Basic was rebranded and is now the title of a family of programing languages from Microsoft. And that Visual Basic (Classic) was a part of that (until it was “no longer supported” 8 years ago).
So, in hindsight, Visual Basic was created to steer a whole lot of future programmers into a dead-end career at Microsoft. Which yes… could be lucrative, but was it fulfilling?
I’m asking for your grandkids and great grandkids btw…
Again… I’m old… I know there is so much more to life than money… so freaking much more….
So kudos MS… well done…your successfully deployed your Kool-Aid product to the masses… what an awesome accomplishment…
But… here’s the thing…
None of the VB languages are on the list of the most important languages.
They are MS languages.
Which is fine if you want to work for MS.
And only MS.
But that was the point, wasn’t it…
Ah… before I forget….about JavaScript…
JavaScript is still one of the most important computer languages… 30+ years later. Often called “the undisputed language of the web.”
Take that, VB cult…
Sorry to ramble… back to the topic…
I’m sharing all of this as an analogy.
If everyone is doing something, but something in you feels like it doesn’t sit well, perhaps it’s not for you.
If it rings true some of the time, but others, you find yourself saying “wait… what?,” you need to listen to that.
You have your own path.
You have your own mind.
Because God gave that to you.
Listen.
Observe.
You may not discover the reason why you feel the way you do until decades later.
That’s just part of your path.
You see, God gave you a personalized road map to your time on earth.
Follow that MF hard… it’s yours… it’s a gift.
That honors God.
Not a cult mentality.
You be you
