"What Should I Do With My Life?"

The True Story of People-Who Answered The Ultimate Question,
by Po Bronson

I picked this book up about a year ago while in the airport on a lay over. I thought it was the perfect book to enjoy, during a few hours especially in an airport. For some reason, the airport has always filled my mind with life wonder anyways. So, while gazing at the oh so many different kinds of people... rushing through the airport...and identifying with some...and dismissing others...I start to analyze all the different classes, personalities, and professions people take on. I start to wonder, how I would have ended up if given different variables. After sessions like these...(haha) I always get a boost of hope for the future, awareness is key. If you want something, go out an get it. If you have a question, ask. If you want to be successful, hang around successful people. Everyone has a story, no doubt.

Let me let the author tell you himself what the book is "about."

"So this book is meant to unearth the psychological demons that haunt us. It uses people's stories to demonstrate these misconceptions and fears, and shows how people are confronting them or have gotten past them."

"The people in this book are ordinary people, ...some have succeeded, many have not. They're not famous, and they did not have available to them resources or character traits that gave them an uncommon advantage in pursuing a better life."

"They're messy and complicated. You hold in your hands the antithesis to all those books which pretend their one size fits all formula will result in rosy, happily-ever-after Hollywood endings. I'm a chronicler; this is (foremost) a social documentary of people's lives; it just so happened I learned a lot in the observation. The result might lack the comforting ease of a cure-all, but it makes up for it with integrity."

Never the less, its been a great book to read and re-read on my trip and to have in my personal library. Struggling with my own answer to this very question, its nice to be reminded, I'm not, nor will I ever be, the only one pondering. I havn't really explored it, but I can imagine there are many books of this nature. However, I'm grateful to have stumbled upon this one when I did.I truly recommend it. It has given me new perspective, and I now have new words to describe what I've been feeling for quite some time. Its been enlightening to also read about more real life stories, and understand the standpoints others come from. Throughout the book, you learn how others make sense of their own lives and mishaps. Therefore making the idea of a "mistake" (even the same more than once) okay.

One last quote from the author.
"There are many very real stumbling blocks that prevent us from pursing this question: never enough money, never enough time. We're aware of those contraints-they're right in front of us, every day. But we also have many psychological stumbling blocks that keep us from finding ourselves. Some of these are badly tangled misconceptions, some are deeply rooted fears. The two are related-like any prejudice, misconceptions get fabricated and sustained by fears. These psychological stumbling blocks are often less real than we imagine. By confronting them, we begin to see around all our obstacles, even the seemingly insurmountable ones. If you take care of these obstacles, you create an environment where the truth is invited into your life."

Comment 1: Typing psychological so many times made me wonder...how did the term "psycho" get to be so bad? There's almost a thin line, and when you think about it...being psychocolgical can make you "psycho." Haha, I guess you can be "psycho" in a good way, or is that cerebral?

Comment 2: Is all this easier said than done? I'll tell you this...I'm making head way.