“Like Mike,” the commercial goes. “I wanna be like Mike.”

As children, we naturally looked up to role models who were older than we were. This only makes sense, as you won’t find too many role models under the age of six. We’d look up to our parents, for starters, as they were and are such central figures in our lives. We’d look up to movie stars, astronauts, professional athletes. The idea, of course, is that we aspired to be “like them some day.” This holds true through adolescence and into our teen years too. Even into young adulthood.

Time Waits for No One

But then, before you even have a chance to realize it, things change. At least they did for me. While I still look up to a number of people who are older than I am, I’m finding that many of the people I admire are now younger than I am. Does that mean I’m getting old? Does this mean that I’ve missed my chance and that my “some day” is already behind me? When did I get so old?

The truth is that our perception of time is not linear. It’s the reason why summer break felt so long when we were kids, yet the years fly by in the blink of an eye as we get older. “Blink and you’ll miss it, ” you’ll commonly hear parents saying about their children growing up. One moment, you’re a kid trying to figure out your place in the world. The next moment, you’ve got a mortgage, children of your own, and all sorts of responsibilities.

It turns out that the adults we looked up to? They probably didn’t know what they were doing either. And yet, they were our role models. Now that I’m older, perhaps my perception or relationship with role models (or just people I admire generally) has changed.

Looking Up to Kids These Days

When you’re younger, you look up to your role models because you aspire to achieve what they have. Some day. And that “some day” is at some point in the future. It’s something you can work toward. As someone rapidly approaching the big four-oh, maybe I admire these “younger” people out of a sense of childhood nostalgia. A daydream into the hope of what could have been?

Let us consider a few prime examples. I’ve put their respective ages (as best as I can find) in parentheses for context:

  • Johnny Harris (32): The “Vox Borders” guy is obsessed with maps, Switzerland, and deep dive explainer videos. His wife Iz (30) is equally inspiring, tackling mental health and professional creativity. Both are incredible filmmakers.
  • Hannah Price (26): Known as “Currently Hannah” on YouTube, the Aussie performer has been living in Japan. She documents her explorations in beautifully cinematic ways.
  • Malala Yousafzai (23): The “girl who was shot by the Taliban and lived” is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a powerful advocate for girl’s education. She speaks with passion and confidence.
  • Matt D’Avella (32): You might recognize Matt as the guy behind the documentary about minimalism. Or maybe you follow him on YouTube. Either way, he’s great at reminding us how to live our lives with greater intention and less clutter.
  • Greta Thunberg (17): I don’t know what you were doing as a teenager, but I certainly wasn’t speaking on the world’s stage about the urgency to fight climate change today. She’s had an incredible impact on all of us.
  • Simone Giertz (30): She prides herself as the “inventor of useless machines,” because “building stupid things was actually quite smart.” I love her ingenuity and creativity.

With the exception of Malala and Greta, everyone on this list is a YouTuber. That was not at all intentional, though maybe it speaks to the media I consume.

Who Are Your Role Models?

I’m not sure if “role models” is quite the right term. I don’t aspire to win a Nobel Peace Prize nor do I want to produce a movie for Netflix. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that these are people I admire, not just for their incredible accomplishments, but also for the ways they choose to approach life and its challenges.

To that end, it doesn’t matter if someone is older or younger than you are. Our teachers and mentors can be of any age. “The Child,” as William Wordsworth once wrote, “is father of the Man.”

Who do you admire or look up to? Are they older or younger than you are? Are we ever “too old” to aspire to greater things?