{"id":879,"date":"2017-01-11T21:20:38","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T04:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/?p=879"},"modified":"2017-01-11T21:20:38","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T04:20:38","slug":"identity-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/2017\/01\/11\/identity-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Identity crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before I left on this journey a friend of mine asked me, “What’s your job? Everyone has a job so go do that!” Of course, he did not mean an office job. “What’s my role here? What am I here to contribute?”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n(LaRue Pine Hills<\/a>)<\/p>\n

This is a thought that rumbles around my head often. Currently, I travel, I write, I take photos, I care for two dogs. But what am I contributing to a larger community? I’ve considered many ideas: volunteer with pet rescues as I travel, do a day of meal-on-wheels in towns I pass through… but this kind of ‘job’ that my friend asked of me I don’t think is something one can choose. You can’t point to a thought-bubble and say, “X is my passion” – unless X truly resonates in your body. This ‘job’ isn’t a logical ‘this seems like a Good Thing To Do’ idea. It is more of a calling. A contribution that drives you to action. An identity.
\nIs living by example enough? Does pursuing your passion fit into that idea?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n(along IL-127<\/a>)<\/p>\n

How does a writer decide to identify as “writer” vs “teacher”? Or a “photographer” instead of “administrative assistant” What drives a person to pursue a craft vs. falling into the security of a jobby job? Somewhere along the road I lost that motivation. Once upon a time, I was “an actor.” Now I’m an “IT Monkey” or “I work in IT”, but I’ve been a published writer. Where did that contribution, that passion, that calling go?<\/p>\n

There’s this idea of the “aha!” moment, an epiphany changes your life. At least it happens in movies. Quitting one’s job to go live a footloose life on the road is such a romantic idea, and it really is romantic and joyous and beautiful and enthralling. But it’s also stressful, and exhausting, and often uncomfortable. Will I have a movie-worthy aha! moment during this odd and random adventure? Or will it simply be a series of interesting road-trips?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I left on this journey a friend of mine asked me, “What’s your job? Everyone has a job so go do that!” Of course, he did not mean an office job. “What’s my role here? What am I here to contribute?” (LaRue Pine Hills) This is a thought that rumbles around my head often. Currently, I travel, I write, I take photos, I care for two dogs. But what am I contributing to a larger community? I’ve considered many…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3,97,4,5,98,182],"tags":[43,212,214,213,211],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campering","category-family","category-fears","category-lost","category-nostalgia","category-over-thinking","category-random","tag-identity","tag-it","tag-passions","tag-photographer","tag-writer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p87hG1-eb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.no-destination.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}