BRUH, got a minute?”
I did, and it led to my friend telling me how cool it would be if I helped tutor kids over the summer for a music performance they had. I said yes only because I owe my friend a favor or three and not because I am the benevolent Buddha that my friend thinks I am.
Fast forward a week to their performance, and I’m sweating bullets. I look so nervous people ask me if it’s my first time playing. Jitters aside (for me, not the kids) and the kids played solid. Now my pal plans to continue this summer program of tutoring the kids and getting me onboard for this.
I’m a bit torn. On one hand, I like my Saturdays—watching Rick and Morty and Eater videos on YouTube is a perfect afternoon for me—and hate having a chunk of my time taken away to play camp counselor to kids old enough to be my own kids. Much patience for this is required, and I’m the last guy on earth who would be defined as patient, despite my Buddha-like demeanor and aura (sarcasm intended, people).
On the other hand, I have to take a long, hard look at myself. If people didn’t sacrifice their Saturdays and take time to bring me under their wings instead of watching, I don’t know, Friends or Power Rangers (whatever was a hit back then), I don’t know where I’d be right now. I look back at high school Jedd and groan—sometimes wanting to punch myself in the face for good measure. But if it wasn’t for the patience (that word again) of the people around me to just let me do my thing and grow at my own pace, I think I’d be a worse adult for it in the year 2018.
As I get older, I think the idea of being a “mentor” of sorts still scares the daylights out of me. Mainly because I think I’d make a lousy mentor. Seriously, if a kid were to ask me how to win at life, I’d tell him I had no idea and would be willing to go with him to look for the answer.
However, as the idea of “leadership” I have is getting redefined, I slowly come to realize those guys who stuck their necks out for me also didn’t have it all figured out during that time. And that’s okay, because the idea of “mentorship” is not that you’ve “arrived” at the destination but that you’ve gone a bit further up on the road than the person you’re taking care of.
The question is: Are you willing to be that guide so that the person following you doesn’t stumble as much as you did?
Despite my complaints about this summer program that’s been put on my lap, my answer to that question is a resolute yes.
Who are you being a mentor to?