I was listening to the radio the other morning (BBC Radio 4 presumably: my girlfriend and I have an ongoing battle, switching between 4 and 5 when the other is out of the room...she normally wins), and there was a woman speaking about how she'd decided to give up investment banking and become "an adventurer" (I think that's what she said...but was half asleep). So she'd given up her previous career and made a life change and gone off and done exciting things in exciting places and changed people's lives....So far, so good (although I do always think it's easier to make that kind of change when you have a nice pile of cash from your previous career to use!)...
Anyway, what was interesting, as an idea, for me, was that she decided to make this change finally as a result of writing two obituaries for herself. In the first, it was all well-liked, married, two kids, successful banker blah; and in the second it was all awe-inspiring, amazing, extraordinary courage blah. Which would you choose.
I thought this was quite a neat way of weighing up career (or other) options, by trying to view things in the long-term and with an objective tone and viewpoint. Also interesting to compare this approach to Blair and Bush's current obsession with legacy and "how they will be remembered" (see this amusing rant by Tim Dowling, which suggests naming Stansted airport after Blair now to get this legacy nonsense out the way)....
And on THAT note, a brief announcement that the Natural Death Centre's Day of the Dead is held on Saturday April 29th this year....see their website for more details.
An excellent idea I'll add reference to in my book. Thanks.
"You have to know that some day you will die. Until you know that, you are useless." —Tyler durden
Posted by: Alex Peake | August 19, 2006 at 10:21 AM