one of my favorite quotations: “throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.” – ayn rand
i’ve been thinking a lot lately about this goal, as i’ve just graduated from college and am presently jobless and unsure of what i will be doing after i return in august from doing archaeological fieldwork on easter island. people continue to ask me about my post-college plans, to which i usually laughingly reply ‘i don’t know.’ and it’s not so much that i don’t want to begin the next chapter of my life, because i do. i want to live on my own, be independent and create a life that i enjoy and am comfortable with. but figuring out exactly what that means when it must accommodate a job, somewhere to live, etc. has been quite difficult.
but ruminating a bit on the above quotation and its relevance to this particular goal has led me to believe that perhaps deciding what i want to do with the rest of my life may be misleading and even counterproductive. i mean, since life is nothing but the present moment, i tend not to find it very fruitful to spend large quantities of time thinking about very far into the future; i don’t want to miss what is going on around me at any given moment. now, this is not to say that i am not planning for the future – that would just be stupid. but i am convinced that to be happy i will have to follow my own direction, whether or not that direction coincides with what is expected of me.
and thus, i’ve been thinking mostly of shorter term goals and plans, which won’t necessarily constrain my future. sure, these goals will obviously impact how the rest of my life plays out, but since i’m only 21 years old, i have quite a lot of living ahead of me (hopefully). but the one thing that could remain more or less constant throughout the whole of it is for me to stay true to myself and follow my own vision, even if that vision changes and i find new roads to take.
with all that said, this is what i want to do with my life right now:
1. work for the next year in philly or d.c.
2. study bioarchaeology in graduate school starting fall 2008
3. travel as much as possible
4. laugh every day
