Stormy Sky, just before hail, Clark Park, Philadelphia

Stormy Sky, just before hail, Clark Park, Philadelphia

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to
experience the world in the way they have been told to.”
-Alan Keightley

Read:

A Brief Guide to World Domination at the Art of Nonconformity. (There’s a PDF document that you can view or download on that page.)

Answer:

#1: What do you really want to get out of life?

#2: What can you offer the world that no one else can?

Feel free to share here.

I am still refining my answers.  I read other people’s answers at the link above not to cheat but to help put it into words.  (I seem to “know” things and have difficulty finding the words to express it, clearly and simply sometimes.)

#1:

Above all else, I want to be happy.  This doesn’t mean I’ll never be mad or sad, but I want the general emotion/feeling of my life to be happiness.

I think that getting/maintaining this happiness (I think this past year has definitely been one of my happiest!) involves a balance of simple times at home (and quality time with friends/family) and adventurous travels.

I think that my ideal life would be similar to this person’s comment –

My dream is to enjoy useful, engaging, and lucrative work with the flexibility to live comfortably, give generously, travel regularly, sleep in, hang out, get fit, and cook (and eat) luxuriously until the end of my days.

Being any more concrete than this is difficult – I have many dreams, some of which are the kind that you always have as dreams, and some I do hope to actually do.  I don’t have any career goals except one that I find fulfilling and supports me/my family and the things that bring us the most joy.

#2:

This is the hard one.  Yeah I can wimp out and just say no one else has the same views/thoughts/whatever that I have, because yeah we are all special flowers.  Whoop-de-do.

I don’t know what I am good at or what makes me unique.  Because I’ve only ever been me, and can’t really judge without bias.

Some people think I’m brave/adventurous, for traveling abroad alone, for going to Burning Man, for spinning fire, things like that.  But I know so many people that are way more adventurous than I am.

I know I have some talents/skills, but I feel like I’m more a jack-of-all-trades rather than excelling in any area.

The things that truly feel the most “me” – the most unique and self identifying traits… I don’t see those as things that I can offer the world, they are just my characteristics – not much different than the color of my hair or eyes.

I don’t know of anything I can offer that no one else can.

I know I care too much, do too little, can be way too selfish, battle with myself, usually am inspired more than inspiring others.  I know I (sometimes) don’t let fear get in the way of new adventures, but the fear and the voices of the “shoulds” (parents/society/whatever) haunt me and sometimes win, and I’m not proud of that.

I know I don’t know all the answers, and can be gullible at times, but tend to stay neutral in arguments between friends because I can see valid points on each side.  I try to be a peacemaker and avoid drama, but often at the cost of my own peace.

Maybe I’m hung up on the “uniqueness” of what I think this answer should be.

It may also be tied into some personal changes in thought that have morphed over the past year, and specifically around the election, on how I feel we can impact the world the most.  And I’m not sure I’m ready to put that out in a public blog yet because it’s just too raw still and different from anything I really envisioned for my life.  But you never know what the future holds, and whether that path will be mine or not….

Anyway.  I invite you to think of your own answers, whether or not you share them here.

And – this is kind of a scary request (but let’s be adventurous)…  What do YOU feel I have to offer the world that no one else can?