At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.
At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.
At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed as a missionary and decided to go to art school.
At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a suicidal single parent living on welfare.
At age 28, Wayne Coyne ( from The Flaming Lips) was a fry cook.
At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.
At age 30, Martha Stewart was a stockbroker.
At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs.
Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39, and got her own cooking show at age 51.
Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn’t get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.
Stan Lee didn’t release his first big comic book until he was 40.
Alan Rickman gave up his graphic design career to pursue acting at age 42.
Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his first movie role until he was 46.
Morgan Freeman landed his first movie role at age 52.
Kathryn Bigelow only reached international success when she made The Hurt Locker at age 57.
Grandma Moses didn’t begin her painting career until age 76.
Louise Bourgeois didn’t become a famous artist until she was 78.
Whatever your dream is, it is not too late to achieve it. You aren’t a failure because you haven’t found fame and fortune by the age of 21. Hell, it’s okay if you don’t even know what your dream is yet. Even if you’re flipping burgers, waiting tables or answering phones today, you never know where you’ll end up tomorrow.
Never tell yourself you’re too old to make it.
Never tell yourself you missed your chance.
Never tell yourself that you aren’t good enough.
You can do it. Whatever it is.
This is very inspiring for me and just what I needed right now
most damaging idea of the 21st century: the conviction of vast numbers of people that human history will end within our lifetimes
climate change represents world-altering tragedy if unchecked, but not even in the worst-case scenario does it mean âliterally everyone diesâ
yet so many people have jumped already to âitâs over, the world is going to end, we can do nothing about itâ and are just paralyzingly cynical. How do I explain that the power to imagine a future is essential for creating it
you know the thing where trauma can cause you to just. not expect to live much longer so when you get to 30 you donât know what to do because you thought youâd be dead by 25
That is happening to all of us right now on a society-wide scale
A lot of people are like. REALLY angry at me for suggesting that âbe depressed and do nothingâ isnât necessarily the only response to climate change.
this, this, this, this, this, this, and like, 700 other sources will tell you that most of the effects of climate change will be reversible even if we pass the âthresholdâ of a 1.5 degrees Celsius increase in global temperature
BUT. Even if the worst happens, it will be important to be doing things other than wallowing in misery???
Iâm not trying to be callous but for people living today itâs wildly unlikely for the results to be âliterally immediate death.â
People will get displaced from their homes by rising sea levels. We have like, years, probably decades, before that happens. It seems so fucked up to decide that we should do nothing, because weâve already decided theyâre going to die anyway????
If a bunch of us are going to die, why not die trying to help each other? Why not try to make sure fewer people die? Why not do something that might reduce someoneâs suffering or give them food or clean water or a place to sleep?
I donât know how to explain to you that people need socks during the apocalypse
Important.
Literally even in the most severe, cynical, and immediate predictions made by scientists rapid climate change is far away from now. If it does happen itâll take effect over the span of a decade or so, no a day.
And thereâs still hope! Did you know the hole in the ozone layer is closing? It was actually caused by one specific chemical thatâs been banned. A lot of endangered wildlife populations are growing because of so many efforts to protect them. Many mining companies are being prevented from mining in our remaining clean waters and forests. We have all the technology we need to reverse this crisis, itâs just a matter of implementing it.
It will be ok. Things are improving. People are getting on board. Donât lose hope while we still have a chance to use it.
My mom was just reminding me earlier about Copper Hill, Tennessee, which I encourage y'all to look up
In the 1980âs, the area was absolutely devastated by copper mining, to the point that the land had a âMartianâ appearance. It was utterly devoid of vegetation and wildlife. No trees, no grass, no frogs, nothing.
I own a historical fiction book, A Bird on Water Street, about how the area was restored. The astonishing thing about this place is that people were able to fix the damage.
In a lot of ways in the 80âs and 90âs, many species and environments were successfully saved from the brink of disaster.
Does anyone remember DDT? As the above poster said above, CFCâs contributing to the ozone hole? Do y'all remember how saturated the 1970âs were with lead and asbestos and all sorts of toxic shit? Getting specific chemicals banned or working to save specific species DOES HELP.
Iâm begging everyone to research conservation projects going on near them, like, in or near their hometown. The state of Kentucky very successfully reintroduced elk to the mountains after they went extinct there. There are examples like this everywhere.
Things look bad and theyâre scary but they would be a lot worse if the people before us hadnât worked their asses off trying to preserve the world for us. People are out there working hard to save the world right now.
There is still time.
Conservation success stories of 2021. Last year, several species believed to be extinct were rediscovered, long-dead preserved specimens of endangered ferrets were cloned, and several species that nearly went extinct had population explosions.
