Remember Anna Chlumsky? She played opposite Macaulay Culkin in “My Girl”? Her story could have been just one of hundreds of similar such child actor tales: achieving recognition at an early age, then going on to become corrupted by her own success, eventually taking smaller and smaller roles, ending up as a footnote in a “Where are they now?” television feature.
Instead, she found herself disillusioned by the Hollywood lifestyle, and the grind of trying to find the right projects. She dropped out of the industry and focused on college. Years later, a chance meeting with singer Roberta Flack put her back on the path to acting, and she became involved in the theater. Since then, she’s been acting sporadically in television and minor movies, and landed a role in the upcoming movie In The Loop, also featuring James Gandolfini.
It can sometimes be a benefit to a child’s development to be challenged early in life. In Chlumsky’s case, it put her on the path to knowledge, both academic and of her own life. Sometimes while pursuing the things that we think we want, we discover the things we actually need. And sometimes when we stop pursuing things, we find that they have ways of presenting themselves to us. What’s the lesson here for our kids? Go for what you love, but be prepared if things don’t always go as you imagine. Living well really is about the journey, not what awaits us at the end.
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