More work?

Neal Stephenson just gave me an interesting thought, through one of his characters in the book I’m listening to.  The character is bemoaning how his friends all got rich in real estate while he did not, even though they all have the same skillset.  I can relate to this because the last 15 years are littered with examples of people in my industry earning ridiculously high weekly wages, and then seeing them accumulate or evaporate, based mostly on where they lived — how much their rent was.  A lot of money changed hands in alarming ways.

The interesting thought is this:  My skillset is very viable, and if I wanted to make more money I could find a job in less than a month.  But instead I am riding along on this bike trip, trying to answer a question that is very important to me:  What do I WANT to do next?  I am taking this trip partially for it’s own sake, but also as part of a quest to find a new sense of balance in my life.

So much of my thought is bent around what I would choose to produce, what I would be inspired to contribute to, that I am missing the forest for the trees.  There is a larger point here that should be obvious:  I am clearly not to content to spend my savings traveling around the world and relaxing, because I really like doing work.  I am absolutely no good at spending money just to spend it and going on adventures just to have them, to say I’ve done them, to differentiate myself from some social group.  I am constantly scrutinizing everything around me to find a deeper meaning, or solve a problem.  It’s what I do.  And I don’t think there is anything else I would rather do.

The entire landscape of work and exploration is accessible to me, now more than ever, because of my resume and resources.  I need to keep finding stuff that I would love to explore and have always been afraid of trying.  I need to keep pushing my own boundaries.