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On Late Bloomers & Expectations
“A late bloomer,” my last training supervisor said about me in reference to my recent effort to learn a new subject. I wasn’t sure if he meant it as an insult or a deliberation that there might still be some hope for me. This label was no surprise to me. I have known for some time now that I am a late bloomer in certain areas of my life. I had always been way too mature and considered myself an old soul in other areas.
A late-bloomer: what does that exactly mean?
I recently came across a book titled “Thanks for Waiting: The Joy (& Weirdness) of Being a Late Bloomer,” written by Doree Shafrir. The book got me thinking about what it means to be a late bloomer? Who is considered a late bloomer by the standards of, shall I say, the “early bloomers”?
As a noun, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a late bloomer as someone who becomes successful, attractive, etc., later in life than other people. The Collins English Dictionary defines it as a person who matures, achieves proficiency in some field or skill, etc., later than such a person is typically expected to.
Before calling me a late bloomer, my supervisor lectured me about being sensitive to the needs of my colleagues whom I had called out for their inability to help me understand the new concepts. Yet, he did not recognize my sensitivity when he called me a late bloomer. He was smiling, but I could see judgment he was hiding behind his smile.
By now, I knew better than to defend myself. What was the point? He had already decided. He regurgitated the psychology behind instruction development and how he could adjust his approach to meet my learning needs. He didn’t know that I had a master’s in instructional design. Still, as a student, I told him what I needed to learn as he took notes on moving forward. I needed people to speak slowly. I needed more time to digest the information because I process it differently from the average population. I should give him some credit because he at least wrote it down, whereas most people would have written me off as one of those who fell on the tail end of the bell curve and probably not worth wasting their time.
Late bloomers & the society
Survival in a society depends a lot on being near the center of the bell curve. Autistics…
