It has been weighing on me lately how much potential there is in our lives to spend time doing things that are not self-gratifying.  This has especially been on my mind since finding out yesterday that one of my customers passed. She was only 66.

I don’t claim to know her well, in fact, I would say that I didn’t really know her at all. What I mean is that I knew her in a purely professional manor; I couldn’t tell you anything about her family, where she grew up, or what she did for fun.  What I can tell you is that she was pleasant to be around, and she was always nice to me.  I can only assume that she had found a job that made her happy.

An average working adult spends about one third of their time awake working.  It’s likely that my generation is going to be working into our seventies.  That is far too much time spent to be doing something that doesn’t make you happy.  That being said, it’s time for some changes.

I can’t say that I have a road map for my life.  What I can say is that what I’m doing, and, to a large degree, where I live right now, do not positively contribute to my happiness.  My girlfriend and I are likely moving in the next couple years.  We’re not positive, but Savannah, Georgia may be where we end up.  She is going to run a half-marathon there this Fall, which will give us an opportunity to check out the place and get a feel for it.

But that still doesn’t address my need for professional gratification.  I want a job that I can see myself in for the next thirty-five or more years, where they literally have to force me into retirement because I enjoy what I do so much.  I also want that job to abide by my personal mission statement: “To better myself and have a positive impact on all aspects of my surrounding environment.”  The only job I can think of that may meet those needs are teaching.

Everything I’ve ever heard about teaching is that you have to really want to do it.  I have several friends who are teachers, and I assume they “really want to do it,” but their actions, their words, speak differently.  They frequently post on Facebook how “horrible” this student is, or how much they hope school is canceled tomorrow due to the weather.  Rarely, if ever, do they say, “Wow, I really reached them today.”  I don’t mean for this to be critical, and I don’t know that I would react differently.

I guess what it comes down to is that I can’t make everybody happy, but I hope that I can at least make myself happy, and be a positive person, so, when I die, people can say “At least he wasn’t a dick.”