If You Could Do Anything You Wanted for Living

Recently, during a lunch-hour TRX training session, the trainer asked me what I do for a living.

Me - "I'm a CPA. I do accounting for a local real estate development company."
Trainer - "Do you like it? Does it keep you busy?"
Me (despondently (trying to smile as I said it)) - "It keeps me too busy. It's actually pretty ridiculous just how much work there is."
Trainer - "If you could do anything you wanted for a living, would it be what you're doing now?"
Me (thinking, then speaking) - ...should I be honest, or should I give the canned "Sure, it pays the bills...almost" response? ...but instead, "It sounds cheesy, but I love animals and would have loved to have done anything related to animals...be a wildlife photographer or something like that."

I've had many versions of this conversation with various people over the past several years.

My answers have varied:

• "I would do something that makes me feel like I'm making a difference in the world."
• "I think I would've been a great nurse--a three or four day work week would be amazing! Then again, I had back surgery two weeks before my 30th birthday and being on my feet all day might have been a problem back then."
• "I just want a job that ends at the end of each day...that I can't take home with me...or doesn't pile up if/when I ever take a vacation."
• "I just want to work 40 hours a week...spend more than an hour or two with my son each day."
• "That's a great question."

One thing I do know: Ask anyone who knew me when I was young(er) what they thought I'd be doing now and I can guarantee that not one of them would say "working a corporate desk job".

Mid-life? Definitely.  Crisis? The jury's out.

Choice - Poop in a Hole or a Pristine Commode?

A Peace Corps video on YouTube called, "Poop in a Hole" just brought me to tears. Shouldn't I instead be cracking up? Do I envy these strangers who get to poop in a hole--not those who have to poop in a hole--but those who choose to make our world a better place, and as a result get to poop in a hole?

My sister-n-law chose to join the Peace Corp, currently lives in the poorest country in Europe, and gets to poop in an outhouse. Her best friend also chose to join the Peace Corps, currently lives in the poorest country in Africa, and gets to poop in a hole. Conversely, I get to poop in any one of three pristine and modern commodes inside my own home. Until recently, I never thought of it as a choice...but, incidentally, where I poop is a direct upshot of choices I've made since I chose to make my own choices.

It seems my opportunity to choose to poop in a hole has passed. How to deal with this realization? This is my dilemma.

Mid-life? Definitely. Crisis? Probably not.