For what feels like a long, long time, I searched high and low for the answer to the question “What should I do with my life.” I read book after book (including, not surprisingly, What Should I Do With My Life), attended numerous workshops and retreats, searched for the answer on the web, and drove my friends and family nuts asking them for the answer. It wasn’t there.
Those darn career change books kept asking me to remember what I liked to do as a kid. I couldn’t figure out how to make a career our of reading Nancy Drew mysteries and Judy Blume teen novels (anyone remember Are you there God? It’s Me Margaret?), so this wasn’t very helpful.
I must have brainstormed my skills, interests, values, yada yada yada… seventy two times if I did it once. I most certainly drove my friends and family nuts asking them what I should do with my life. And none of it worked. I alternated between waiting for the lightening bolt to hit me with the answer and despairing that I’d never find it, making the best of my job(s) and then hating it but not knowing what else to do, and generally feeling like there’s got to be more than this.
I vascillated between these sentiments until a few months after my husband Dave and I got married on April 13 (or was it the 14th Dave?), 2002. We were in Margaret River, Australia on our honeymoon when we learned that his Army National Guard unit was being called to active duty when we got back and he’d be away for a year on a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia (the first year of our marriage for those of you who aren’t paying close attention).
Yes, this really does have something to do with figuring out what do to with with my life (and what might help you to figure out what to do with yours)–I promise. Stay posted and part II will be available soon for your reading pleasure.
