As a parent of two teenagers (well, soon enough: the 12-year-old turns 13 in a few weeks), I feel I don’t need to encourage them to relax. They’re quite good at that, using a combination of their phones, Netflix, slime and comfortable furniture.
But it’d be nice to encourage them and other young people to feel relaxed later, when they’re working.
Bill Murray once said:
I think the only reason I’ve had the career and life that I’ve had is that someone told me secrets early on about living.
You can do the very best you can when you’re very, very relaxed – no matter what it is or what your job is. The more relaxed you are, the better your work.
And that’s why I got into acting – the more fun I had, the better I did it.
Funnily enough, I feel more relaxed doing the work I do now compared to when I was shovelling rat poo for no money, or moving pallets of water around a warehouse in the middle of the night, or picking up rubbish at a market on a Saturday afternoon.
Feeling relaxed means I can enjoy my work because I’ve naturally moved towards what I do best.
My point is that I’ve been able to move towards what I do best because of the internet, and we should encourage young people to think about something they might like to do for a living that makes them feel the same way.
