paging Quitty McDitchDigger

I wouldn't say that Po Brosnon's book, "What Should I Do with My Life?" helped me make the decision to leave journalism and become a librarian, but I did like the book when I read it several years ago, and some of his ideas were probably running around my subconscious somewhere. Now, he's written a follow-up article that addresses career stuff in The Economic Downturn, and I found it really comforting. Especially this:

There is no one-perfect-thing each of us is meant to do on this planet.... For each of us, there are dozens, hundreds of careers, any one of which could provide you a sense of meaning and goodness. You don't have to find "The One," you just have to find ANY one. The biggest mistake is being seduced by the myth that you're looking for the right answer, as if there is only one answer.

Also this:

Don't tell me you don't know what you want from your life. Don't ever say that, don't ever fool yourself into that stupor. Of course you know what you want -- you know the feeling you desire -- fulfillment, connection, responsibility, and some excitement. The real problem is figuring out how to get it -- how to find a path that doesn't suffocate those natural feelings in you. Which is hard. Of course it's hard. It's supposed to be hard. If it weren't hard, you wouldn't learn anything along the way, and thus you would never get there. If you don't know how to make the best of a bad situation, you will never get there. If you are not willing to put up with some shit work, you will never recognize that a good opportunity is staring you in the face. If you are not willing to be humble and repeatedly be a beginner in new areas and learn the details faster than the next guy, you are not capable of transformation.