Adult in Training

Tom Huntington refers to himself as an “Adult in Training” and, in listening to this podcast the audience will appreciate where he is coming from. In addition to being a retired attorney, Tom considers himself to be a human nature science geek. He is very interested in how the brain and mind work and what motivates us. This is evident throughout this interview as there is a lot of self-reflection which is vital to all of us.

Tom takes the listener through his life coming from a privileged family setting, attending boarding school, and receiving a scholarship to some very prestigious universities. With a so-called “perfect life” set up for him, he attends Standford and describes what that was like and what transpired.

As the title suggests he is an adult in training and with that he is questioning his life and the choices he is making. As he describes, he leaves Stanford and joins the Peace Corps which sends him off to India to work as a farm aid.  This part of the interview will inform the listener of what it is like to work and live in a third-world country as Tom provides a vivid picture of his experiences. His involvement with the Peace Crops is also talked about as well. It is worth noting that this is all taking place in the mid-60s as The Peace Crops was in its infancy and the issues that came with such a start-up are also discussed.

As his tenure closes with this venture, he moves back to the United States which is in the late 60s.  He openly talks about the culture shock he faced leaving a third-world country and re-entering a modern society.  More importantly, he talks about how he adjusted to this change, and how he dealt with the uncertainty of the political and social turmoil of that time. 

In doing so he continues his life adventure by moving to Hawaii and after several years coming back to the mainland where he attends law school in San Diego.  He provides his definition of how he settled when he was working as an attorney. Which then motivated him to do more self-exploration as he described.

This fun, entertaining, and enlightening interview may leave the listener thinking about their life choices. In addition, this episode does cover some history as there is talk about the '60s and the climate that materialized from these times and how it affected people. There is insight into how The Peace Crops developed and what it was like to work in a third-world country. Above all this is an important interview as it deals with self-discovery and how one person went about the process.