Coming Soon: Many Choices
It’s almost a cliche to start this way.
It is cliche to start this way. Who cares. Hang onto your hat and bear with me on this.
2012 is drawing to a close, and 2013 is looking unpredictable. The New York Times is publishing articles by the minute with updates on the looming fiscal cliff. The EU might break up next year. I don’t know who will be coaching my beloved Eagles, but I’m assuming it won’t be Andy Reid (and at least the Giants didn’t make it to the playoffs). All of that, though, doesn’t cause me to lose sleep.
On January 2nd, I will part ways with my current employer. Why is a topic that I will likely cover in a future post, the scars haven’t healed over just yet. I will simply say (for now) that it’s mutual. In any case, for the first time in my life, I don’t know what the next step is. When I was in grade school, my father reminded me weekly that I was going to go to college and become an engineer. In high school, I loved math, science, computers and so focused on those topics. In college, the path was clear to my ultimate degree in Computer Engineering. After graduation, each new job was the logical next step, starting as a programmer, then moving into architecture, then into technology management, and in the last 3 or so years, executive leadership. Each time a decision needed to be made - to pick my degree, to choose my job, to stay or leave, it was all on the path. It was almost as if I drew a map when I was 6, and now, at the tender age of 39, I’ve reached the destination.
Not quite.
With my departure from my current gig, I don’t have the next gig lined up. The path, for once, is NOT clear. I’m blessed - I have the flexibility to take some time to figure it out and make the right choice. The problem is that I have no idea what that right choice is. There are many things I like, and many things that I’m probably good at, but it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to get all these likes and skills aligned in The Perfect Job(tm).
One of my favorite books is Buddhism Plain and Simple, by Steve Hagen. He speaks quite a bit about how choices actually cause Dhukka, or dissatisfaction. If you don’t have a choice, you can’t necessarily agonize about it. A simple example is when I come home from work, and my lovely wife Danielle has picked out the dinner menu, prepares it all, and places it on the table. “Ahhh”, methinks, “lovely”. I sit down, and I eat the dinner. Dhukka avoided (unless of course she makes stuff I don’t like to eat, but stay with me, I’m trying to keep this example simple). On the flip side, let’s say I get home at 7, and wifey says, “What do you want for dinner?” Ugh. Well, I want pizza, I want chicken wings, I want to be healthy too, so I want a salad, and perhaps some lean protein, but I don’t want to cook so let’s go out but I don’t want to spend the money so let’s get something cheap but that’s expensive should we just microwave a can of soup….
The anguish of trying to make that simple decision is based on ten or more choices. Compare that against not having the choice to begin with. It might be fun to make the decision, but it can also be a major source of stress. And that’s kind of where I am at the moment. I’m presented with a problem (no job), and I have to solve it by making a decision and there’s hundreds or thousands of choices to be made.
And that’s what I’ll be blogging about. The choices that I make in my daily life. The job situation is a big one, but I’ve got lots of other stuff to talk about, including my addiction to fitness, my struggles (choices!?) with my weight, technology, being a dad and husband, and maybe some current events here and there.