Looking for a life-changing event

Taking Walt's challenge to think about life-changing events.

Publishing a book. I've self-published three--the life-change actually happened in the commitment to make that a business which came before publication. I wanted, for quite some time, to write and publish a novel. I went to library school when I realized that publishing a novel (should I ever complete one, which was questionable) was unlikely to change my life as much I hoped. I had a fantasy of a steady working partnership with an agent and editor--given the reality of today's publishing world, I am more likely to find good working partnerships with co-workers and a boss. That realization was a life-changing event--I set a path toward a more conventional career.

The honors on the list are a bit hard to contemplate since I can't imagine roaming in the circles where they would be likely to happen. Most would be worth a celebratory dinner, or maybe a party--certainly blogging about and noting at work.

MacArthur Award? Even though it has no strings attached, I think I would feel some obligation to use the money to exhibit whatever genius they saw in me to do something good for the world. Probably something along the lines of mentoring students (maybe right into library school) and helping them pay for further education.

The $5 million over a lifetime? I can't win since I don't play. But the answer to that has changed over the years. That's enough money to never have to work for money again. There was a time when that would have meant "run my own business" or "write a novel." But I've tried both of those things and found it difficult to keep a sense of meaning in my life without an organizational mission and people around me working together for a larger purpose. So, I no longer think that would be a life-changing event. Taking some time to think about it, sure, but the result would likely be keeping my career and finding a way to funnel the money into that organization's mission or a related one (like, the scholarship idea if I were working at a college).

The life-changing event I'm looking for right now is to find a team to join with an organizational mission I can contribute to in meaningful and productive ways.     #

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