Maybe We Should Give Our Idols a Break..

You know that old saying.....never meet your idols, because, apparently, you’ll be disappointed? I’ve always found that a bit dramatic.

I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever had idols. That word feels so... grandiose. Like, have I ever put someone on such a high pedestal that they could only tumble down?

No, not really.

But, there are people I’ve admired from afar, people whose work I’ve followed, whose ideas have shaped the way I think. And when I’ve finally had the chance to meet them?

Thankfully, I’ve never been let down.

No crushing disappointment. No false bravado. No secretly awful human behind the public persona. Just... people.

But imagine, for a second, the pressure of being that person. The one others quietly elevate without you even asking for it. To walk into a room and feel the weight of expectation hanging over you, like some kind of unofficial sainthood you never applied for.

That must be exhausting.

This past week, I found myself in conversations with someone I’ve deeply respected. And suddenly, they were being vulnerable with me. They weren’t pretending to have all the answers. Instead, they were openly questioning their own path, their own worth, their own enough-ness.

And my God—the relief.

Because if they feel that way too, maybe I’m not as alone in my own spiral of “Am I doing the right thing?” and “Is this where I’m supposed to be?” as I sometimes think I am.

Those thoughts? They’re persistent little bastards.

And yet, here’s the funny thing. The older I get, the more I realise there are probably people who look at me the same way. Who imagine I have it all figured out. Who might even, dare I say it, think of me as some kind of trailblazer. (I laughed out loud writing that sentence, by the way.)

But it happens.

We do this to each other all the time, we assume other people have it more together than we do.

We forget that they, too, put their trousers on one leg at a time. (My favourite phrase, by the way.)

We forget that even the people we admire get it wrong.

They doubt themselves.

They second-guess their choices.

They try to do the most and wonder if it’s enough.

And honestly? That whole “never meet your idols” thing feels a bit unfair.

What if your idol is just having a really crap day?

What if, five minutes before you met them, they ripped a massive ladder in their tights and now they’re internally fuming because they know the only Boots nearby is the tiny, useless one in a train station that never stocks the right ones?

Like, maybe today just wasn’t the day for 'idol-worship'.

So maybe it’s not never meet your idols. Maybe it’s just meet your idols, but remember they’re human too.

And maybe, just maybe, we should all give them a bit of a break.

Actually, scratch that.

I think I’m writing this as a note to future me.

If, for whatever reason, someone ever thinks of me as an idol (please don’t, by the way), and they meet me and leave feeling disappointed… I’d really appreciate the grace of a second chance.

Because maybe, just maybe, I’ve just found a ladder in my tights.