What Next?

You have spent much of the past two decades of your life being told where to go, how to think, what to read, what to watch, how to behave. Far be it from me to add to the cacophony of advice that will almost certainly accompany your latest achievement but I do have one piece of advice …

You’ve done what everyone has told you was wise and reasonable and intelligent and forward-thinking and strategic. Might I humbly suggest that you consider the possibility that your happiness should be the most important factor when deciding what comes next? How many decisions leading up to today have frankly had anything at all to do with your happiness?

Its no surprise that you may be uncertain about what you want to do next. You’ve been following society’s clear cut path for over twenty years. If you are able, I suggest that you take some time off and travel a bit. Leave society briefly. Go hiking. Be in a play. Write some songs. Volunteer. Work as a dishwasher. Live with some buddies. Join the Peace Corps. Strum a guitar. Ride your bike. Watch an ant cross a field. Take the time to really kiss someone you love. Do a triathlon. Live life for just a little while before you commit yourself to any one course or path.

Don’t worry. While you may actually learn to enjoy being only marginally productive, I can almost guarantee that you will tire of it, eventually. When you do, I’m pretty sure that something will be calling you and that you will be in a uniquely receptive frame of mind to hear it when it does. I’m pretty sure that what you are supposed to do next will make itself known to you if you’re open to it.

It might be a job. It might a dream. It might be further education. It might be a talent. It might be a person or a place. But, whatever it turns out to be, you will have become self-aware enough to really know when it dawns on you. Knowing yourself outside your normal comfort zones and having an adventure or two can really help you see more clearly what it is that you truly value and what it is that you truly want. Despite what many people may tell you, what you want in this life is very important.

The happiest, most balanced people that I know are often those who say they let destiny have a place at the table when they were deciding their futures. These are usually those rare people we all know who are not stuck doing things they hate for a living. They enjoy their work. They enjoy their families. They are creative. They are passionate. I think these things are far more important than success by almost any other yardstick.

If, after some reasonable frittering, you are still unsure about what to do next, just go ahead and make a decision and start moving in a direction (any direction). I always remember my mother asking me when I was at a crossroads in my own life, “Don’t you think it is better to go in the wrong direction than in no direction at all?”

After more than twenty years of contemplating that question, I can honestly answer … “Yes, Mom. I think that it is … but I am definitely not sure.” ;-)