We are born eager.
Enthusiastic.
We are born with the capacity to have our minds blown on the regular.
We are easily excited.
Easily psyched.
We are overflowing with energy.
Free and unencumbered.
As kids, we run as fast as we can.
We laugh really hard, at everything.
Nothing can slow us down.
Because we’re eager.
We’re explorers, makers, builders, organizers, leaders, and performers.
We show off, dance, draw, sing, scream, express ourselves, and relish the extremes.
We’re unapologetic, fierce, and true to ourselves.
We soak up the new, the undiscovered, the thing we’ve never seen or heard or felt before.
When we do something cool, we beam with pride and tell everyone.
We’re charged.
And, we live that way until something happens.
… until we share our eagerness with the wrong person.
We’re eager until we run into annoyance, frustration, impatience, or disdain.
We’re eager until we see disapproval flash across the face of someone we love.
We let our instincts run wild until the day we feel the heartbreak of rejection or dismissal.
We might look around and realize… a lot of people are cool, aloof, impatient, and busy.
At times they seem critical, cynical, and even cruel.
Others aren’t as eager.
So, we tighten up.
We get a little quieter.
We learn to be a little less wild, a little less enthusiastic, and a little less free.
We start to censor ourselves, monitor our behaviors, and tamp down our energy to fit in.
Instead of running really fast and then sleeping really hard, we jog.
Instead of enjoying the big highs and lows, we stay safely in the middle.
And, slowly our wild eagerness is traded for acceptance and approval.
Our thirst gets pushed to the back our minds, behind the opinions of others.
And, it’s exhausting.
The big challenge of adulthood is learning to reignite the eager.
It’s relearning how to be loud.
Enthusiastic.
Wild and uninhibited.
And, it will make for better work, better organizations, and better leadership.
It will make for better lives.
So, be eager.
Be thirsty.
And, if you make something cool, dance around, show all of your friends, and hang it on the goddamn refrigerator.