Happiness, reinventing yourself and what's the point of money, anyway?

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. ~E.B.White

Mr. Commoncents and I are at a crossroads, specifically:

We have a passion for knowledge.

We want to leave the world a better place.

We believe that the future of the world lies in the youth of the world. And that youth, specifically in America, makes us very worried about the future.

But most importantly - we really, really don't like our jobs.


We don't impact even one of these ideals with our corporate, paper-pusher jobs. In fact, the only thing our paper pusher jobs allow us to do is the relative comfort of a biweekly paycheck and stability of being able to pay the mortgage. And eat. (Oh yeah, eating is very important to us in this house.) Yet, we've become increasingly aware of the importance of congruence: to be able to live your values, make an impact on those you touch, and to generally enjoy the process.

2010 is a whole decade beyond the time I believed as a child that I would be very, very old at the ripe age of 23. My eight year old self could barely fathom being double digits, much less (dramatic pause) well over 30.

So I've decided something: I'm going to change things.

2010 has a theme - The Year of the Transformation.

I'm going on a personal development journey and I plan to open all the ugly and beautiful things that come along with facing the truth:

- My simultaneous desire for security and fear of stagnation
- Not allowing myself to let go of things that don't serve a purpose in my life
- My need to improve the future of the world, coupled with my selfish desires of wanting to just be happy.

I'm going to do a lot of work, I'm going to discover the path I was meant to be on, and I'm going to enjoy the journey. Happiness and fulfillment or bust!

I hope you join me.