The question has been asked an unfathomable amount of times, “what do I want to do the rest of my life”. The phrase brings the usual thoughts to mind ‘cliché’, ‘trite’, ‘good luck’. Personally, it has been asked perpetually over the last 5 years of my life, an unwanted heavy burden that lay on my back like so many other people of around my age. A question who’s answer is elusive, evasive, and perpetually changing. The answer is the solution to and the cause of so many of a young person’s emotional valleys. The question’s answer is the difference between a job and a career, a pay check and success. The ideal, a job that you love that won’t feel like work is the goal. Make a mistake in answering and a life filled with unfulfilled dreams and frustration. The asking and answering of the question is of the most vital importance; shaping a person’s mind, personality, and plans for the next ten years of his or her life. It shapes how you spend vast amounts of money on cars, houses, and education (and in some cases inebriation). It is seemingly impossible to answer this question.
What if you ask that same question, but this time answer it as if it has been asked in a different tone? Answer as if it was asked as “WHO do I want to BE the rest of your life”; make it nothing to do with career, education, money. Apply your mind to thinking about the person you are and the type of person that you would altruistically like to be. Answer honest, raw, provocative.
I have spent the last five years of my life answering the right question the wrong way, planning my life out in black and white and green. Money, success, adoration, belonging; I answered selfishly and even more tragically, unoriginally. Answering while influenced by outside sources I have failed, as so many others have, in answering the question all together. Who I am hates what I have wanted to do, and who that would make me; because I haven’t been answering the right way. Now it is time for me to love WHO I want to be the rest of my life so I can love WHAT I do the rest of my life. If you become the type of person you can love, then you will love what you do, and that, I am starting to understand, is happiness defined.
“What do I want to do the rest of my life?”
Simply,
I want to be a person who loves, lives, and forgives without regret, worry, or hesitation.
Jh
Love Well
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2 comments:
This question has haunted my past for a while. I can mainly thank my father for that. Yet you approach it from a different angle, and that's what makes this blog so interesting.
I honestly think that if you were to write another book after the A/C one, it should be entitled "Destination: Myself".
I love the feedback, The question of self worth or direction is one that is far too over-pursued...we leave very little time and put very little effort into easing into an answer. the "normal" timeline takes over for an individual's proper timeline. we are all different, and answer this question in unique times and ways.
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