Thursday, August 2, 2012

The Hanson Complex: What Were You Doing When You Were 14?

The Olympics are inspirational, aren't they? The world's best (and often best-looking, hello Ryan Lochte) athletes converge to break records, push their bodies to the limit, and demonstrate what hard work can really do. But after I'm done basking in Team America's reflected glory, googling leotards and vowing to go to the gym more, I am left with a small seed of disappointment in myself.

What could I have possibly been the best at if I had really dedicated myself to it? I took piano lessons for a few months as a kid but quit when my teacher made me cry. I also took gymnastics but quickly grew too tall and busty to really be a success. Cross-stitch? Reading? GAH!

I refer to this feeling as the Hanson Complex (official psychological term), as the first time I felt this way, I was 14 which was two years older than Taylor Hanson (that lovely specimen on the left) when MmmmBop was released. Hanson, unlike Britney Spears who also hit the scene at a young age, wrote all their own music and played all their own instruments. These boys are now all married with multiple children and continue to MmmmBop themselves all the way to the bank.



But at 14, did I really have the motivation to completely dedicate myself to one thing? Did I even like one thing enough to know I wanted to dedicate all my free time and my family's free time to it? ISN'T HIGH SCHOOL HARD ENOUGH, DAMN IT?

In Malcom Gladwell's book 'Outliers', neurologist Daniel Levitin is quoted saying, 'The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert--in anything.' 

While it's never too late to learn a new skill and I truly love trying new activities, ten thousand hours sounds like a lot to me, particularly when there are so many 'Real Housewives' seasons I need to catch up on. So yeah. I suppose I will have to reside myself to being a well-rounded 'Jill of All-Trades, Master of None' until BRAVO stops airing such addicting television.

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