I coulda been a contender!

I am a puzzle junkie. I suppose I have always been one. My earliest memories involve trying to figure things out. From the fairy tales and nursery rhymes I was told before I could read to the math problems and history I was taught in school and, always, to the questions on the tests I took throughout my (rather limited) schooling that measured and catalogued my progress.

I often say that I coasted through school, that I never felt truly challenged. The truth, I think, is that I shied away from real challenge and took the easy and soft path that led through the forest of life instead of the rocky and risky path that might have led to great success. Or, put another way, I was lazy. My teachers were always impressed by my ability to score well on tests. They thought I was very smart and often told me I "could do anything [I] wanted to if [I] set my mind to it." Unfortunately, I wanted to slip through life mostly unnoticed.

I like to say "I tested well" when asked how I got decent grades in school. I didn't study, I never "crammed" for a test. In fact, I rarely prepped at all. In class, I simply paid enough attention to remember what the teacher emphasized. When taking a test, the questions always seem to suggest the right answer to me. I didn't understand why but I took advantage of it.

Had I had a mentor, or a good counselor, I might have learned to push myself toward meaningful goals. If instead of telling me I could "do anything [I] wanted", I had been told I would never make the grade, I might have done something with my life.

Or maybe I wouldn't have listened and still taken that easy path to mediocrity.