"What the hell do we do now? We're happily married, I'm actively saving for retirement, and we're not planning to have kids for a few years. It seems like my days are spent in a 50/50 split waffling between a) frantically investigating new life or career opportunities online and b) being completely at peace with my current life situation and seeking out new activities to enrich it: reading, working out, playing music, freaking out about political news, thinking up small business plans (to reduce the need for regular work) etc. Does this ever go away, or is this a constant life deal? It's actually probably uncharted territory, at least in terms of previous generations, because ours was really the first generation to grow up with creative spelling, "everyone's special, unique and wonderful" and "you can do whatever you want in life if you set your mind to it" guidance. With our "limitless" yet guided upbringing, our first steps into the uncharted real world are a tough adjustment. It's just one big game of Atlasphere." - Dan and Amanda's blog

I read this today on a friend's blog and I can totally relate. True, I'm not happily married (yet) but I agree with the author's take on both the joy and anxiety that go along with a life that might have more than one job or "career". I was only planning on being in China for one year but one year quickly turned into two years. We are not going to stay in China for a third year and it is going to be very hard to leave. Students (and family and everyone else) always ask me, "What's next?" and I tell them I'm working on it because I don't really know, though I have a lot of ideas. The problem is that many of those ideas are: a) non-paying b) competitive c) far away d) cost money e) want people younger than 30. Hmmm. I definitely want to return home and be near my family, but the thought of looking for a "real" job and making some roots freaks me out right now and I don't really know why.


I can reveal one plan in the works that unfortunately is all of the above (a-e). Sean and I applied for a NOLS course for the month of September. NOLS stands for National Outdoor Leadership School and provides all sorts of wilderness education - it's just like Outward Bound. Because my family did a lot of camping growing up I have always been interested in the outdoors and after a backpacking trip in high school I always wanted to learn more. This is the course that we applied for: Rocky Mountain Outdoor Educator. So this semester we are saving our pennies and planning to apply for financial aid and scholarships if we make it in.

After September? Yeah . . . we're still working on that.

2 comments

1. Dan on March 5, 2011 at 11:28 AM

   Thanks for the shout out and the massive quote!
   
   The Outdoor Leadership School reminded me of one of Amanda's roommates from Lutheran Volunteer Corp. He volunteered with then ended up working for the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee: http://www.urbanecologycenter.org/ (I think he still works there today.) They do educational programming and other stuff like that involving nature and ecology in Milwaukee. You guys would be perfect for a job like that somewhere - you get to be outside and do nature stuff but still live in a regular location.
   
   Good luck!
   
   http://amandanmcc.blogspot.com

    
2. ARSwolverine on March 28, 2011 at 1:32 PM

   Awesome! I like this idea.