Growing up in the nineties, when it was all about slackers and irony, it wasn’t cool to be into things.

My friends and I were so into music that we couldn’t be cool. We were always playing or listening, or wishing that we were playing or listening.

In the span of about 12 weeks in tenth grade, I learned how to play the guitar to a decent level of proficiency — enough to perform in public. I was not particularly talented. I was merely obsessed. In that short span of time, I dedicated every possible moment to music, and it’s been paying off ever since.

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When I was in my early twenties, I loved a succession of musical artists that I had only discovered through nerdy magazines.

I loved music that I had heard about from friends, too. And music I found about from the hipsters who worked at the record stores I frequented. But my appetite for new music could never be sated. I was always looking for more. Whenever I traveled, I was on a quest. Then, the expanding Internet made my job easier, but endless.

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I’ve talked to many families over the years who have told me how much they love my school program — but won’t be enrolling their child.

It goes something like, “We love your school and we’ve gone around and around on how to make it work, but she doesn’t want to leave her friends.”

It is entirely possible that these people are just saying that to be nice, but I think there’s more to it.

It seems related to a logical fallacy that Cal Newport points out in his book Digital Minimalism. Newport suggests that people tend to be hesitant to give up an activity or situation that has any benefit, despite the unwanted downsides.

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The elementary school I attended had a series of playgrounds made mostly of tires in interesting configurations.

Back in the olden days, when multiple recesses each day were standard, there was a separate playground for the kindergarteners, another for the first and second graders, and another for the third and fourth graders.

One of my classmates, who went on to become my best friend, remembers, at age five, peering through the chain link fence that separated the kindergarten playground from that of the first and second graders. Gazing at the older kids at play (So worldly! So sophisticated!), she said to herself sorrowfully, “I’ll never make it.”

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I want every kid in the world to know that they don't have to wait until they’re done with school to start their actual lives.

What is the scary thing that you’d really love to do? What can you do today to move toward it?

Too many of us postpone our dreams. We don't even think our dreams are possible in our circumstances.

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