Great question, but the only thing coming to mind is always wishing for clarity when it came to what I should do with my life. I still feel like I missed some hints, missed out on a moment when things crystallized, and revelation provided a path forward with regard to the work I should occupy myself with in order to make a living.
I did end up as an ordained Lutheran pastor for 26 years, but never really felt comfortable in that position, like this was my “destiny,” even though others gave me affirmation along the way and told me this was where I needed to be. Instead, I often found myself wishing some other direction was taken, some other door had opened, because most days I felt like a fish out of water.
I wish I could have been like the folks who somehow “know” from early on that they will be a doctor, or an athlete, or a musician. I never had that clarity, or a sense of assurance that I was where I was supposed to be. But maybe that’s more rare than it’s made out to be. Maybe that’s not how it works, anyway.
Maybe it’s more about following a dream and putting in the work.
Now that I’ve been writing for a while, I realize that life itself is often a mystery to me. Why are we here? Since we have the wherewithal to ask that question, it’d be nice to have an answer that satisfies, that stops in its tracks this endless inquiry.
3 Cents' 