What Should I Do With My Life?

April 9, 2003

I'm about to recommend a book I haven't read. Yet. (I learned of it only last week.)

It's called What Should I Do With My Life? Not a bad title, huh? Who among us hasn't asked that question?

The author, Po Bronson, criss-crossed America to find people who had made changes, big and small, to bring more meaning into their lives. Their stories fill the book.

Like the Dallas investment banker who changed course after his two-year-old son failed to recognize him one night. Or the White House fellow who became hooked on Brain Candy - intellectual stimulation that was fun but unnourishing. Or the bank executive, a Cuban immigrant, who found herself asking, "What is freedom for, if not the chance to define for yourself who you are?"

Bronson found, as he listened to such people describe their journeys, that questions like these recurred:

• Should I just accept my lot?
• Why do I feel guilty for thinking about this?
• Will following my passions put me in the poorhouse, or tear me away from my loved ones?
• When do I need to change my situation, and when is it me that needs to change?
• What will it feel like when I get there? (How will I know I'm there?)
• When is it wiser to try to love what I've got than to try to get what I love?

These are questions I know well. I've grappled with them myself. You probably have too.