Is it too late for your dreams?

I remember thirty years ago talking to Leo and Diane Dillon, the wonderful husband-wife art team, friends of Harlan. I had lunch with them in Greenwich Village many years ago. I thought I wanted to talk to them about my first wife’s artistic ambitions. I was wrong. In the presence of these wonderful artists, I realized I felt like a fraud. That I had made choices, based on survival, that were not true expressions of my being. They were about survival.

And as I spoke to them, I started weeping. And then sobbing. I felt that I’d wandered off the true path. “Hollywood is like a hill made of bullshit with a rose at the top. By the time you finish climbing…you’ve lost your sense of smell”. I forget who said that. But EVERY external human endeavor is like this. Everyone must sacrifice options to focus, but if you aren’t careful, you’ll sacrifice the very things you need to enjoy the journey: love, integrity, health, connection, contribution.

I felt I’d lost myself. “Is it too late for me?” I said through tear-blurred eyes. And these wonderful people smiled gently at me, and Dianne reached across the table and took my hands. “If you can even ask that question, Steve…its not too late.”

And with those words, I was made whole. Anyone who wonders why I spend an hour every day teaching people has only to consider how blessed I’ve been with mentors, and understand that all I can do to thank them is be the best person I can be, and pay it forward.