Rodent Regatta

Let me try again. Carrying this negative energy around is like carrying a twenty-pound watermelon – you can’t give a good hug when you’ve got a watermelon in your arms. It blocks your connections to others…

So here’s what I wanted to know: Does a solo career in bodywork put you on a downward slide to loosey-goosey-land? That’d be my fear. In fact, I might as well admit that’s why I’m telling this story: to confront my own watermelon…

Well, I think we have to cop to that fear, and recognize that finding our calling might get a little internal, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to wig out.

from What Should I Do With My Life
by Po Bronson

• * There’s an Update * *

Heres the scenario: a woman made a conscious decision to leave the fast-lane life of an international sales and marketing person in a high tech company to earn a massage certificate and start a business. Po Bronson is obviously incredulous:

”That’s it. I cannot see one more modem,” she vowed. But do what? She knew what she wanted: She missed human contact.

Did you ever feel that way? Email can’t convey what you mean. The virtual instant messenger can never connect with you like someone sitting across from you over coffee.

He goes on:

”Do you ever feel isolated?” I asked. ”Working alone? I mean, you used to travel the world.”

”I get a far more powerful and genuine connection to people now. That’s what I always wanted – to connect with unusual and interesting people.”

”I guess what I really meant was, you kind of dropped out of the traditional status framework. Most people need the context of a company and an industry and a title and a salary level and regular performance reviews to provide a measure of self-worth. How does one forgo that, and dare to go alone… where do you get your sense of importance?

again from What Should I Do With My Life?

Bing! That’s where we miss it. It’s not the money, it’s not the power, it’s not the prestige. Those are all false gods. Until you connect – I mean really connect – with the people nearest you, frustration lies at the end of the trail. Success is not jetting here and there, great clothes, packed itinerary and all of life’s common problems. That route takes you to a life of loneliness in a crowded room. There’s another path.