MENTORS

 

While Mentors are usually associated with helping advance a career, or artistic endeavor, they can be an extremely valuable asset in just living a persons life.  As each decade passes, life becomes more and more complicated, demanding, stressful, and more intertwined with other persons, and multiple tasks. For a person to have a mentor to guide and advise them, even in their younger years, could  help them avoid certain pitfalls that can hinder them or even force them to alter their choices later in life. At say 18 years old a lot of things sound great, that an older person may have experienced or been through or learned from, that could possibly save them from some future heartache.  In these times, with higher tuition, and more specialized career paths, a person in college needs to make major decisions as to what path to take study wise, so that after graduation they  are prepared to accomplish their goals, whether they be academic, artistic or business wise.  Having a mentor to help guide them would be  a huge benefit when choosing their study plans and goals.

As to going about finding a mentor, I am at a loss.  In the earlier stages of life, I would imagine that a mentor would be someone that would come about through a family connection. Maybe a relative, or a friend or coworker of the parents. Perhaps a youth takes an interest in something that an adult acquaintance is involved in.  Thus sparking a mutual interest in an activity.  Maybe a college student stands out to an instructor, or shows an exceptional talent for a certain endeavor. This talent causing a spark of interest, in the students talents. Or perhaps it is at a future job, where someone shows a real interest in a career, and maybe reminds a senior employee of them at an earlier time.

It seems to show, when a person has a real enjoyment for and love of something.  Whichever scenario occurs, I feel that if someone has a genuine feeling, talent or aptitude for a certain "Thing," it will manifest itself to others, who will want to pass along their experience and knowledge, as a mentor.