What Should I Do With My Life?

I just finished reading a very cool book this week. I randomly picked it up off the sale rack in a bookstore in Victoria a few weeks ago for the 2 1/2 hour ferry ride back to Seattle, and loved it. The title makes it sound like a cheesy self-help book, but its not. The author was intrigued by the question of how people find and settle into their “callings” and began asking people about just that. After interviewing over 900 people, (crazy, huh?) he of course was able to notice some trends. This book is a collection of over 50 people’s stories, grouped into several categories. 

As a person who has struggled with this question seemingly more than most people do, the book really resonated with me. Not that it provided any earth-shattering insight or answers, but just seeing the wide variety of paths that people’s lives take and how long some of them take to develop was encouraging to me. There were people who fell into their callings almost accidentally, some who took huge leaps of faith (or risks) to get there, and others who bounced around for long periods of time before settling into a groove. 

Through it all, one thing is clear to me. Our career paths are as unique as we are. As much as we think we would like for them to fit into neat little checkboxes, categories, and timelines, they don’t. As cliche as it sounds, it really is much more about the journey than the destination. And for me, I think I would be much happier if I could learn to enjoy the scenery along the way instead of always being preoccupied by where the path is headed.