I have always admired how some children can know what they want to do for a living when they grow up. At the elementary school, whenever the teacher asked, my classmates used to answer immediately. What’s worse, it sounded like they’re totally convinced about their answers. They wanted to work as a pilot, doctor, astronaut, chef or baker, simply whatever you can imagine. There my anxiety begins. “What the hell am I going to do when I grow up, asked 6 years old Hynek himself,” thrown into the uncertainty of his future.
I just knew I like drawing. I drew all the time. At home, at school…after all, art was my favorite subject. But can I be a painter? Is it even a regular job? Just imagine that a teacher asks kid at the school what his parents do for living and the kid just answers: “My father is a painter.” Isn’t it strange? Have you ever heard something like this? Definitely not me. Well, at least I had something to answer now, even though I had no idea if it was truly my desire. So - I’m going to be a painter.
I made it to the fifth grade. But then a crucial question came: Are you going to continue the elementary school and then choose a specialized high school or are you going to move now to an eight-year high school? As you can guess, the decision was clear for me. Eight years -equals- more time of thinking about my future, more time for postponing the decision of my profession.
So. I started an eight-year high school with general orientation. As time went on I started to like biology and I felt like It would be maybe the way I could go. My interest was partly caused due to my parents, who are both doctors, so I’ve been always really close to the biology and these medical stuff. Later I chose biology, chemistry and physics as specialization subjects and I was pretty convinced that I’ am going to study medicine and become a doctor. I need to mention that my parents have never persuaded me to become a doctor. My mum was rather like: “Go study puppetry, carpentry or something like this as I’ve always wanted.”
In the last year of high school I applied perhaps to every medical school in the Czech Republic. And then my parents came and asked me, if I really want to do this? That If I want to I could apply for an art school or something like that. Just for fun, nothing binding. Just because they thought, I could enjoy it. In retrospect, I think they may told me because they felt that they would rather try something more creative then medicine if they could change it.
I said: Why not? And applied for this school. Even though I had no clue, what I should do for that or if I am competent to study this school.
Then I can skip a bit of my life and just say, that I graduated from biology from the question of the reproductive system of human and a few months later I started studying graphic and media design. Bizarre. Isn’t it?
First of all, I was lost. Lost as I have never been before. I can still recall my first lesson on computers. As an user of a windows computer I sat in front of Mac. And I really didn’t know how the hell I should turn it on when there is no box with a button. Just a monitor. By now, I’m grateful that my classmate offered me to sit next to her. She was, I think in a similar situation. It was the same in almost every class. I didn’t know the terminology, the history, theory, almost anything.
By the time I was getting better. My skills grew up, I started to understand, I started to see mistakes that I haven’t seen before. I started to do some small work for people out of school, just by my own. And what’s more, I started believe, that this is the job I’m going to do. Possibly it is not, but currently I feel like it is.
And finally, why am I telling you all this to you? I don’t know either. Maybe just because I want to share my story with you, because I think sharing is important. I think it is important to realize, that is not shame to do not know. Sometimes we need to let it on time or sometimes the initial idea, like mine painter at elementary school, may be the best you’ll ever have.