I'm a Radiohead fan.

I know.

Half of you just thought, "Oh no, he's one of those."

I can't help it. When my son was little, we used to listen to The King of Limbs while he struggled to fall asleep.

And now the other half of you just thought, "Oh no, he actually likes The King of Limbs."

But don't worry.

You won't have to listen to me prattle on about Radiohead for the next several minutes.

Just stick with me through the setup.

We'll get there.

For most of Radiohead's 30-plus-year career, guitarist Ed O'Brien has been the band's most elusive member.

The other four roles were pretty straightforward.

Thom Yorke was the singer, songwriter, and anxious alien at the center of it all.

Jonny Greenwood was the musical mad scientist.

Colin Greenwood played bass.

Phil Selway played drums.

And Ed O'Brien?

He did... guitar effects.

I guess.

Whatever that means.

And much like those effects, he seemed to fade into the background.

But now, in his 50s, O'Brien is putting out terrific solo albums and giving thoughtful, articulate long-form interviews.

In many ways, he's become the most accessible member of the band.

It would be easy to say he's finally come into his own over the last five or six years.

But I don't think that's true.

More likely, he's been coming into his own for the last 30.

We're just now noticing.

And it made me wonder how often we do this to the people around us.

We decide someone is the quiet one.

Or the awkward one.

Or the irresponsible one.

Or the guy who peaked in high school.

Or the guy who's never quite going to reach his potential.

We watch one chapter of someone's life and quietly assume we've read the whole book.

One of the ideas I keep coming back to is this:

For some people, life is too short.

But for most of us, it's surprisingly long.

Long enough to have several careers.

Long enough to become a completely different parent than you were ten years ago.

Long enough to develop wisdom where there was once insecurity.

Long enough to discover gifts no one—including you—knew you had.

Long enough for second acts, reinventions, and the kind of slow growth that almost nobody notices while it's happening.

The problem isn't that people don't change overnight.

It's that they usually change so gradually that the people who see them every day barely notice.

Then one day they're leading the company.

Writing the book.

Starting the business.

Recording the solo album.

And everyone else says, "Wow, where did that come from?"

It came from the last twenty years.

We just weren't paying attention.

The older I get, the more often this happens.

I've watched former classmates become people I never expected them to become. Quiet coworkers become leaders. Friends discover talents they didn't know they had. Parents soften. Skeptics become believers. Overconfident people become humble.

It makes me wonder how many stories I've declared finished long before they were.

I think there's a lesson in that, and it has very little to do with Radiohead.

Be careful about deciding someone else's story is finished.

The quiet coworker may become the best leader you've ever worked for.

The teenager who's still trying to find his footing may become an incredible father.

The person who seems stuck today may simply be in the messy middle of a chapter that makes sense only in hindsight.

But there's an even more important lesson.

Don't decide your own story is finished either.

Maybe you've convinced yourself you're not creative.

Or that you're too old to start something new.

Or that you're "just" an accountant, a teacher, a salesman, or a mechanic.

Maybe you've allowed a mistake, a disappointment, or a difficult season to become your identity.

Don't.

As long as you're alive, your story is still being written.

Life is surprisingly long.

Long enough for second acts.

Long enough for reinvention.

Long enough to become someone even you haven't met yet.

Never confuse the latest chapter with the final one.

Until next time—
keep the fires burning.
– Clay

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Ed O' Brien thumbnail photo by Steve Gullick

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