Interesting conversation today with a friend that led to some reflection on taking paths in life. Simply put, it’s taking a close look and evaluating one’s abilities and successes and failures to determine where–regardless of desires–time and effort is best spent. This isn’t just to form a basis for career, but more, for achievement of happiness that may not come from involvement in one’s heart’s dream, but from a satisfaction of quality performance. She wants to be an entrepreneur; she’s successful at using money to best advantage and at providing the resources, designing, and decorating a home. I want to be a writer or artist; I’m most successful at showcasing the work of others.
Yep, those are the facts. I spend my time custom framing the artwork of others to enhance and display it at its best. In writing, I’ve produced magazines that enabled others to be published. My own work was often included, but when fillers were needed (I’ve even written things to ensure that the proper number of pages, sometimes divisible by four, were met). I’m good at editing, and prior to that, at encouraging and critiquing. This may be where I shine and maybe where I should seek the right path for involvement in literary pursuit.
Yes, there’s some sadness to this revelation, but there’s likely a good deal more happiness in a road that leads to helping others reach realization of a dream, and in the satisfaction of a job well done.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology