However, I've recently realised that if you're a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none type, or you have no one dominant strength or obvious burning passion, like me, then the advice becomes a burden.
If I can be anything I want, then why I aren't I there yet? I'm hard working, intelligent and nearly 40 so what am I messing at? My problem is I don't know what I want, yet. The options are so broad as to render me stuck in the headlights like the proverbial rabbit.
The implication of the advice is that I will succeed. But choosing the wrong path might lead to failure, so I can't do that, I must get it right, mustn't I? But how do I choose the right path? How will I know? And what if I get it wrong? Do I have to stick with it or be seen as a failure?
I've been exploring this in my mind a lot. Being seen as a failure by whom? Those who gave the advice in the first place probably won't view it like that - ultimately their advice means 'we can't tell you what to do, but we want you to be happy and fulfilled and we'll support your choices'. They're not standing there with a notepad (or modern technical equivalent), waiting to record my failures, so why do I do this to myself?
I've decided to look at things differently now. Instead of seeking my 'one true path', I'm going to try and view what I do next as an experiment. Experiments, by their very definition require trial and error. They require research, effort, thought, changes of tack, plenty of failure and hopefully, a small dollop of success will come at one or more points along the way.
Experiments also have a goal - their common purpose is to '...discover something, test a hypothesis or demonstrate a known fact' (Oxford English Dictionary). In my case, I'm going with the former, to try and discover what I want to do with my life so that I can be proud of it and not feel I have wasted it though fear of failure.
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