Confessions of a Late Bloomer

The term "Late Bloomer" is used metaphorically to describe an adult who develops more slowly than others in their age group, but eventually catches up and in some cases overtakes their peers, or an adult whose talent (chess playing) or genius in a particular field only appears later in life than is normal but in some cases only in old age.

Truth be told, many of those who seriously altered the landscape of our lives were individuals who found their groove later in life. Many even started out delayed, only to end up successes beyond expectation. That was merely the first such experience that led me to realize that we live in a society with peculiar expectations about the time course of success. We think that if a child isn't blossoming as fast as the others in grade school, he or she will be hard-pressed to eventually flourish. When I was younger, I struggled all the time to catch up, but was fortunate to manage the correct path. It wasn't until later in life that I was able to make the right groves to success.

 Late bloomers are actually plentiful, and each has his or her own story and distinctive pathway. Stopping to look at all the paths together calls into question some of society's most cherished beliefs about the nature of human development, the roles of intelligence and education in creative achievement, and the ingredients of success at any age. All too often, what society thinks is a limiting factor has harsh early life experiences, such as parental loss might have turned out to be the very thing that enables eventual success.

Did you consider yourself to be a late bloomer like myself or were you very successful from the beginning?