Sunday, July 16, 2006

challenge II

From yesterday, will I still be craving challenge in 15 years with a theoretical wife, hypothetical kids, and highly probable crossover utility wagon with 23 airbags, folding flat rear seats, and three DVD players? Or will the solace of security from upper-middle management for a Fortune 500 company, medical and dental insurance, suburban home, backyard pool, 2.3 kids, dog, cat, tile entryway, master bed and bath, walk-in closets be just too much to resist? Or am I just being cynical since the two aren't mutually exclusive, except for the fractional child which will need to be rounded.

I graduated from college and I chose escape. I left the people and places I cared about and went a long way from what used to be my home. It was a challenge at first, but it's become easy again. A coming change with my job role at work will make it challenging and fresh and new again, but I know how the course will run. It will become easy and routine. Even when there seems to be no routine, there will be one. I will look for things to do at work that will be challenging but those will be unfulfilling without a larger purpose in mind. In short, I will get bored.

School carried with it the continuous challenge of learning new things every single day and not just curiosities and trivia and gossip, but hard knowledge. In many ways, I long for a college environment with the chance to learn something new every day and be challenged to think every single day. A perpetual challenge.

Maybe I'll grow up and enjoy things a little slower, start to like wine, and become more patient. However, if that's growing up, I'm not so sure I want that. I think it would be best to grow out.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, growing out is best. Perpetual challenge comes from two sources together -- the right environment and from within. A wide variety of environments would probably work for you, but places like cosmopolitan academia wherever, New York, London, and San Francisco make it more probable.

You already have it from within. Even while encased in Farmington, take the time to explore what intrigues you and what inspires you.