During this whole Enough series, I have been reminded of a sign I took a photo of while traveling: "Just because you walked through the wrong door doesn't mean you have to stay in the wrong room." If nothing else, the last several years have slapped many of us to attention to realize this life-depreciating US work hustle isn't the only way to live.
I love that quote! And think you're dead on in terms of sometimes we think we're going through the right door, but may realize it wasn't the right one all along. It can be disheartening, but like you said, you don't need to stay there.
Fortunately, for people like Avon, they still have plenty of time to choose another door.
Well, Rick (and Avon), that was really fantastic, and I probably say that because I relate to Avon’s dilemma so much. In fact, the way he framed himself as a problem-solver is really helpful to me, because one of the struggles I’ve had in my 3 years away from the conventional work world is finding problems that align with my interests, my intelligence, and my drive. I too care for a household with a spouse who is driven by a career (Sara’s is in art), but that problem is not complicated enough really, or I haven’t allowed it to be so. Anyway, great post and Avon thanks for sharing the depths of your thoughts about the pursuit of meaning.
Yeah, I know what you mean... being a problem-solver by definition means you're searching for problems to solve. I never quite feel settled without tinkering with something.
I do wonder if there's a right balance in there: not so light of problems that essentially are burning time (e.g. puzzles) vs. intractable problems that will cause more pain than happiness by trying to solve them (e.g. curing cancer).
Oh god, I love that dichotomy: puzzles vs cancer. Very apt. I play a set of puzzles every morning—it’s just to wake up my brain I say. But I did this little farm gig where I was making fudge twice a week, big ATS of fudge, and I found it so crashingly boring because the only problem was how much water to use to compensate for the ambient temperature and humidity. That was not an adequately interesting problem, let me tell you! So I’ll keep searching for more challenging puzzles.
During this whole Enough series, I have been reminded of a sign I took a photo of while traveling: "Just because you walked through the wrong door doesn't mean you have to stay in the wrong room." If nothing else, the last several years have slapped many of us to attention to realize this life-depreciating US work hustle isn't the only way to live.
I love that quote! And think you're dead on in terms of sometimes we think we're going through the right door, but may realize it wasn't the right one all along. It can be disheartening, but like you said, you don't need to stay there.
Fortunately, for people like Avon, they still have plenty of time to choose another door.
Well, Rick (and Avon), that was really fantastic, and I probably say that because I relate to Avon’s dilemma so much. In fact, the way he framed himself as a problem-solver is really helpful to me, because one of the struggles I’ve had in my 3 years away from the conventional work world is finding problems that align with my interests, my intelligence, and my drive. I too care for a household with a spouse who is driven by a career (Sara’s is in art), but that problem is not complicated enough really, or I haven’t allowed it to be so. Anyway, great post and Avon thanks for sharing the depths of your thoughts about the pursuit of meaning.
Yeah, I know what you mean... being a problem-solver by definition means you're searching for problems to solve. I never quite feel settled without tinkering with something.
I do wonder if there's a right balance in there: not so light of problems that essentially are burning time (e.g. puzzles) vs. intractable problems that will cause more pain than happiness by trying to solve them (e.g. curing cancer).
Oh god, I love that dichotomy: puzzles vs cancer. Very apt. I play a set of puzzles every morning—it’s just to wake up my brain I say. But I did this little farm gig where I was making fudge twice a week, big ATS of fudge, and I found it so crashingly boring because the only problem was how much water to use to compensate for the ambient temperature and humidity. That was not an adequately interesting problem, let me tell you! So I’ll keep searching for more challenging puzzles.