Pieces of the Puzzle

Every day is an opportunity for discovery, and sometimes the most valuable discoveries come by way of the observations of others. I often wonder who I am and what the possibilities of my life might be.  I grew up hearing that the possibilities for life are endless and that I could be whatever I wanted to be.  But with so much ambiguity, it is hard to discover what it is you *want* to do and even more importantly, what you want to do, that you can do well, that you wake up in the morning excited for the day because it’s another chance to do it.  In the course of the last few months, I have had some aspects of my personality emphasized that were somehow masked that are helping me shape out who I am, what I want to do, and how to go about doing it.

Over the summer I took an economics class.  One day, the professor and I were talking after class and he made a remark to me that he saw me working with big-shots selling them something or other.  I’ve never thought of myself of a salesman; but perhaps I should think about it more.  The opportunity to sell something occurs every day.  We sell our time to the activities we find worthwhile.  We sell who we are to those we seek to have relationships with, whatever capacity that relationship might entail.  We sell ourselves in the job market to employers who seek our talents and skills.  We sell our convictions in the conversations we have during the day.  The question in any situation is, “What am I selling?”  I can be a good salesman if the product is right and I believe in its capacity to expand and enhance the life of the person I am trying to sell to.

Secondly, on a somewhat related topic, I was working with a former professor to create a personal statement outlining my reasons for wanting to participate in a foreign learning experience through the university I am attending.  She pointed out my engagement in her class, even in spite of the fact that it wasn’t related to the major I am primarily interested in, and the way that she was impressed with my curiosity and hunger for knowledge.  This impacted me because it seems like this is something that has been lying dormant, especially while I wasn’t in school and was stuck in the doldrums of a pretty routine life.  I am curious, but I need stimulation and an atmosphere that fosters that curiosity.  School has been a great means of stimulating that hunger as there are things I need to learn; but I have been wondering how I can develop this curiosity in my job and my life.

Another thing I have learned in the past is that one of life’s greatest satisfactions comes from knowing that you have been a force of positive change in the life of somebody else.  The problem is that it is very hard to know when you have had that kind of effect.  Part of it is because such interactions may be rare; the other reason is because that person may not ever find the opportunity to express the impact you have had.  Contributory to the above is that sometimes that effect isn’t even fully realized until long after an interaction has taken place.

Ultimately, the bottom line is finding a way to incorporate this salesmanship, curiosity, and desire to be a force of positive change into something that can lead to a productive life.