What Should I Do With My Life? Someone Tell Me.
“It’s not always going to be upbeat and it’s okay to be frightened. You are going to be scared, I certainly was. You can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and you want to know what the outcome is going to be. You want that security blanket. I say, go without it, every now and then, it will work out. The real security blanket is your values and your visions and that is what you come back to all the time.” - Pat O’Donnell, Aspen, Colorado CEO [Aspen Skiing Company] [source]
What the heck is going on….?
Some say that you’re not here looking for something to do; rather, you’re here because you wanted to be a creator: you ask, you allow, you give thanks and prepare for the receiving of that for which you’ve asked with a grateful expectant mind. Some say that you are here deliberately creating experiences so that you could live the joy that is the experience of your thoughts realized. Some say that you’re here to feel good and that the act of living and forming new desires, evolves Consciousness.
I say, ‘Super.’
For those who like to feel that they have a practical direction in life, I offer a suggestion made to me, a fellow pie-in-the-sky (with results! [I use an exclamation mark as my results surprised even myself 
]) idealist, by my practical friend. If nothing else, his suggestion gives you something to implement while you think about what you like to think about. The Laws of Action and Attraction are one, just different sides to the same coin.
On with the story. A few years after I’d graduated from university, I had a meeting with a professor at a fine arts school. I was thinking about applying to the graphic design master’s program while at the same time I was throwing around the idea of architecture school. My reasoning? I liked to make things pretty. Essentially that was it. I wanted to be creative and make people go, “ohoohoh, ahhaa.” Oh, and the money was nice. Being an ‘Architect’ would have its perks: a lovely identifier to hold high at parties and an easy career name for relatives to tell all my childhood friends back in smalltown-hometownville.
And all intangibles aside, I liked (and still value) sustainable, user-based design that helps people to better do what they do. Function united with form.
The wise professor listened thoughtfully to my explanation (which was more about my values than about my practical way of moving along in the world), then offered these guiding words and a fresh perspective on practicality. I think many could benefit from this:
“To really know what you want to do, think of the skills you enjoy using daily. Once you know those, THEN think of a profession that employs those skills.”
Hmmm. I hadn’t thought of that, explicitly. When considering a career, my mind hadn’t been consciously focused on my actual daily activities, least of all whether I enjoyed using those skills. I had thought mainly about how much I liked the sound of being an Architect. Doctor would have been all right, too.
Career considerations aside, when I thought about what I liked to do with my life, I had a clearer idea — because I DID the things I liked to do.
Anyway, as per the prof’s suggestion, I went home and asked myself: ‘Do I like designing green residential buildings for other people, or for myself?’ ‘Do I enjoy making presentations and selling my ideas while other people made them a reality?’ ‘Do I see myself doing the daily tasks of a typical Architect?’ Nope. I wanted my freedom! I could have created my own style as an architect, adhering to my own sense of professionalism, but I didn’t have the drive nor interest to do that sort of work day in, day out. Just not for me! But I still valued the creativity in studying how something worked, what it was for, why it was important, and making it better.
So I turned my attention to figuring out what career-type professions I would enjoy devoting moments of my life to. (Since I my proclivity was to end sentences with prepositions, I crossed English Teacher off my list.) I devoted that night to writing pages of questions and answers that focused on determining exactly what talents I brought to the table.
What were my skills, and how did I like to use them?
And…. I found that I couldn’t think of anything. Haha. Not right away, anyway. I asked some other people who knew me to varying degrees for their impression of my skills and what value they thought I’d add to a project. It was interesting to hear how others viewed me and my abilities, and also encouraging to know that I’d forgotten about my skills as I’d taken them for granted until then. That’s an exaggeration; yet you’ll find that if you haven’t taken inventory lately (or ever) of how much you know and are of value to others, you may be taking what you know for granted and thus devaluing yourself. It’s especially useful to ask people who are not in your ‘profession’ for feedback on your skills and abilities, as they have fresh eyes with which to view your exotic specialty(ies).
Attention Students and Inquiring Minds!
I highly recommend doing this: ask others what skills and abilities they recognize as being your strengths. More revealingly, what activities do they immediately associate with being ‘you’ if left to your own devices?
All about me. Me me me.
Past responses from friends: “I can see you working with animals.” “You look like you’d be a good swimmer.” “You’re a natural athlete.” “You’re the quiet yet approachable Pisces-Aries cusp humanitarian selfish giver.” “You’re destined for success.” One of the funniest experiences for me as a t-shirt wearing teenager, happened when I lived in Toronto and was helping my Mom landscape the yard. On more than one occasion that summer, I was walking around in a plant centre waiting for my Mother to make her landscaping selections, when an unsuspecting customer would approach an unsuspecting me and politely ask, “Where are the azaleas? Do you have any more red maple seedlings?” And likewise I’d answer politely, providing top-notch customer service as a customer myself. I rather enjoyed it, which is why I consistently wore my green t-shirt on days we’d go to the local plant centres. This is an illustration of why choosing your image is important. Anyway, I digress.
What is your bottom-line?
Happiness is a by-product of doing what you enjoy, so if happiness is high on your list of things to experience, then choose to apply the skills you enjoy. Bonus if you figure out WHY you enjoy applying these certain skills — what values do you fulfill by using these skills, i.e., what need does each skill acknowledge? The need to feel appreciated for your efforts? Acknowledged? To be competent? To feel that you’ve given your best? That you’ve contributed something that matters to another? That you’ve made a difference in someone’s life? That you’ve had fun and smiled a lot?
Tell me again why I want to spend my life developing skills I enjoy and feel good using?
You come alive by creatively expressing yourself. You can creatively express yourself through many different channels, and you’ll find that each outlet you enjoy (e.g. teaching, running, medicine, writing) has values in common. You are more ‘you’ when you’re passionate about what you’re doing. You’re more ‘you’ when you’re experiencing joy. Pay attention to what you’re doing when you’re feeling joy, and do more of that.
This is what you gain by applying the skills you are most inclined to use every day anyway:
You’ll have fun doing it. - Plus you give your attention to what you love.
You’ll enjoy developing your skills further. - There’s always more to learn. New forms emerge. With the advances in technology, growth and adaptive skills go hand in hand. Who knows what combination of existing forms will be the new cool thing?
You’ll be naturally inclined to persevere when the path isn’t exactly paved in gold. - If you spend your time coding computer programs when you’ve heard from your teachers that you should be doing your homework, you know that you’re able to focus despite outside influences. A plus.
You’ll enjoy knowing that you’re living a life you won’t regret. - Why waste time doing doing something you don’t even like, for a result you don’t value?
If you don’t value the process, odds are you won’t respect the outcome.
If you like to view the world as one big competition, then be one of the brave few who acknowledges that life’s journey isn’t always easy and change can be painful, but somehow even struggling is worthwhile. What you’ve been living until now is not indicative of the future; in fact, what you see is the effect of your past creating. What you see now is the result of your past thoughts and beliefs. They have as much influence on your now as you allow. Let go of regrets and reflect on your own past choices as a useful guide for you now. The contrast between what you do and do not want is important and makes your choices about what you want, easier to make. Be brave, follow your passions, work hard to be yourself in the midst of conformity; you cannot be anyone else. Your life is your time. You decide how to invest your time.
If you like to view the world as One consciousness and that what you do to improve the state of yourself also improves the state of all, then you can skip the struggle and get to the feeling good part right now.
So, pay attention to how you best express yourself and what you’re doing when you’re feeling the most like ‘you’ — your example of joy is a contribution of value in itself. Your example of joyous self-expression is an example that gives others the permission and inspiration to find ways of creatively self-expressing themselves too! That ability to inspire, by being nothing more than what you naturally are, is worth calling your Life Masterpiece!
I recommend listening to Steve Pavlina’s podcast #20 on Creative Self-Expression! It’s embarrassing how often I link to his posts, so this is the link to his entire podcast page. 
Use Your Emotional Guidance System
I really don’t think that you NEED to do something to earn your keep here. The world benefits by the mere fact of your existence. But you exist with appetites and aversions, so use those to navigate around. Life is much more fun when you involve yourself! Cue inspirational quote:
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs — ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman
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