My oldest son says he wants to be a doctor. He’s been saying
that for a while now so I’m guessing as he starts out college next year his
intentions will be to start out on that path. Good for him. So many kids his
age have no idea what they want to do when they grow up.
But what if he gets into it and finds out the doctoring
thing isn’t right for him? Will there be a Plan B? Depends on how he approaches
life, I guess. Maybe it’s contingent on how good he is at putting his life’s
plan into place.
It’s a lot to expect from someone so young – figuring out
how to set about living what’s left of (hopefully) a very long life. But I
think if it’s at all possible, it’s something young people should give some
thought to. I know I didn’t.
My strategic approach toward life has been minimalist at
best. Really, my life plan has been pretty general – go to college, get a job,
get married, have kids, keep working, retire and live happily ever after.
I guess it was something, at least. But I think my one major
regret in life is my failure to map out a more detailed life plan for myself.
But then, who really thinks about that during the throes of youth? You have
your whole life to figure out what you’re going to do, what you’re going to
achieve, how you’re going to get there, right? But I’m not young anymore. And
now I’m middle-aged and still wondering.
My general plan seemed to work for me up to a point. I just carried
on with my life and took advantage of opportunities as they came. It worked,
until a few years ago, when I really started to ponder what I was really meant
to do.
And now a couple of years later – after having had time to
think about it and earn a master’s degree to boot – I’m still as clueless as
ever. A life in limbo. Unfortunately, when you’re stuck in limbo, there is a
tendency at times to wonder whether you’ve wasted your life. Distorted thoughts
creep in and begin to tell you that you wouldn’t be in this position had you
not wasted your life. Whether or not my career has been a failure is something
I can’t discern at this point. Fortunately, all I have to do is look at my
three beautiful children to know that my life has had some purpose.
As for my career, though, right now I’m figuratively taking
spaghetti and throwing it to the wall, hoping something will stick. Each piece
of pasta represents something. One piece might represent a total career change.
Other pieces might represent various positions I’ve applied for. Another piece
might represent my current small (very small) business. Still, other pieces
might represent specific specialized niches that perhaps I should more deeply
explore.
Right now I’m on the small business track, seeing where that
will take me. Will it work out? At this point, I don’t know. But if you liken
it to pasta, I guess it has just as much of a chance of sticking as anything
else.
In the meantime, I’m watching my three precious boys
continue to grow up. The oldest is a young man now – so handsome and
self-confident. We took him on his first college visit last week. I can’t wait
for him to enter that new, exciting stage of his life – young adulthood.
And while I know that right now he is just a kid, I hope
that he will come out of a college with a plan, a roadmap, some strategy for
how he wants to take on life. At least I hope he and my other two sons will be
a little more focused than I was. Regardless, I’ll love them with all my heart.
But I do have that wish for them.
Because slinging spaghetti ain’t where it’s at.
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