I read a magazine article tonight about guys that have "Changed Their Lives" in their forties by quitting their high-end, professional jobs to pursue the things they really want to do (ie. starting an adventure-guiding company, a non-profit charity organization, a traveling vagabond and a New York comedian). These stories perplex me. When I read about them, I can't help but wonder what these men were thinking while they sailed through their mid-twenties, making as few bucks as me while searching to find a career that fit for them. Why didn't these men, who seem to represent such large chunks of "successful" men in our western world, pursue the things they really wanted to do THEN? Why is it so typical for people to wait until their early or mid forties to finally pursue the things they really wanted to do? Honestly, I don't get it. It took me two years of college to have the same realization that took these guys 25 years, which is the same realization that some people may never even achieve in their entire lifetime! WTF mate
The problem is that ours seems to be the first generation who's realizing that those full-time money-making careers are not satisfying enough. It's a cool realization to have, and can't really be unlearned. But I screwed myself by having it at 24, so that even now I don't have some sort of financial backing to set me up while I begin pursuing my real wants. I have few things and a heart so full of passion and ambition that I basically explode every night before I go to sleep. I can't cash in my 401k or budget my severance checks to help me fuel my creative future in "Finally Doing the Things I want to be Doing". No, by discovering that I refuse to waste my life at 24, I have no economic safety net to rely on to help me along in my pursuits. The economy does not behave nicely towards folks who want to do the things they really want to do. It's not set up that way. It makes you wonder what your real choices are here, where your skills really belong.
Am I alone? Did anybody else at 24-27 realize they were a Big-Business-Exec-Destined-For-Emotional-Relapse-at-45-to-Quit-Their-Job-to-Pursue-Better-Things besides me? Seriously. No job meets the ridiculous criteria I've set for myself.
I should have talked to Steve about this.
Matt, I think you know too. You seem to be someone who's landed a high-paying job while still doing the things you really want to be doing. Right? Have you done it correctly?
Seriously, I'm taking suggestions. I want to figure the "next thing" out soon. I'm sick of supernatural forces trampling my daily joys. There's an answer here, I just haven't found it yet.
Like the economy: there's an answer, we just don't know it yet.
Advice is Welcome.
1 comment:
I think I know what you're talking about. But it's not exactly the same for me. I'm working and trying to make as much money as possible because we got married young, started a family young, went through lots of schooling, and have debt to show for it. So our goal is really to work in order to get out of debt, because with so much debt it's hard to *fully* do everything you want to.
That being said, we do do everything we want to. Because we know you can't live for expectations in the future (often unrealistic), and we need to do these things *now*. It doesn't matter if you work too. You can do both. You can do everything. It's up to you.
So, one day, "work" won't be as much of a necessity. It'll be an integrated part of our lives. In a different way. At least that's the goal.
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