“I see how my own life zigzagged” ”
I was on a live online video call on this day in 2013. I was conducting a monthly Global Niche workshop. This one I was talking to a writer about the merits of a zigzag life path. She was telling the group, creatives and entrepreneurs logged in from around the world, how those zigs and zags aren't failures and inconsistencies, they're part of a bigger picture filled with meaning you can build on.
Meanwhile the building management sent a painting crew to repair some water damage on the ceiling.
After I hung up the call, one young painter came up to me.
He told me he was eavesdropping on the conversation and now saw how his own life zigzagged.
He said he went from a kid in the ghetto in Richmond to being a successful UC Berkeley grad and athlete, to an NFL football player, and through drugs and bad choices to incarceration and losing his kids, to rehabilitating his life, and now speaking to youth groups and writing a book about his path.
I was blown away!