#39 The Great Unknown

September 24 2010

It's difficult to believe that the year is coming to an end. Fall is here. Today was the first day it did not break into the 70's in Santa Ana and finally all the good shows are back on telly. College football is in full swing and Matt is up at the crack of dawn every Saturday morning watching the Premiership. Summer is over.

It has been nearly 6 months that we have been living here and the pieces are finally starting to fall into place. I am no longer "in trasition". When I left California all those years ago, it was largely due to the fact that I did not want to think of my life yet in certainties. I still wanted the thrill of the unknown. I wanted the option of having all the options. Now everyone is off getting married, getting engaged and getting pregnant and all of a sudden our lives seem like they are one long certainty.

Some of those getting married will get divorced, it's a certainty. Most of us will have children and at our age now some of us will have trouble conceiving, certainty. We will move out to the country or back to the beach, certainty. We will argue over money, where and how to school our children and how often we see our in laws, certainty. Quite frankly, it's all a bit scary.

I knwo that one usually finds comfort in such regularity. Schedules are supposed to be good but I'm not so sure. I've realized that the big transition is transitioning the thrill of my personal life to my professional one. This may be why there are so many workaholics. The thrill of your career is still one of the last great unknowns. Here in America, we are leaders in re-inventing ourselves. You may have the husband/wife, 2.5 kids and mortgage you can't afford, but for 8-12 hours each day you can still be whomever you want to be.

So perhaps this is where the great unknowns will still come from? Our generation has no problem in changing our careers and the recent economic downturn has spurned more changes than ever before. We are suddenly realizing that we still have all the crap we bought with our fattened salaries a few years ago. We don't need another pair of expensive Italian shoes but what we do need is satisfaction. I can now get by without buying a new handbag every season and taking a cab whenever I want to. But I can't get by hating my job.

So change and challenges will remain on the horizon. And let me not kid myself. While I think getting married (check) and having 2.5 kids may be the most standard thing in the world, I am without doubt that I will find ity the most challenging and exciting thing that I ever do.