Looking Towards the Future

As many of you know I'm in the big bad scary city of San Francisco doing that Software Engineer thing. This is exactly how I imagined my life progressing. You graduate high school, you make a decision on a life long career and you study that in college, you graduate college and you get a job, you do that for the rest of your life and anything that brings you joy is just a hobby. I guess now that I see this as a reality I want to change it. Everything in life has a flow chart a list of things you need to check off before progressing to the next step. In high school and college its classes you need to make it to the next year and to get a diploma. But I feel like I am at the last step and I have nothing left to work for. Maybe a promotion in a few years but is that really the next step? I think not. I've been considering going back for my PHD but that will only buy me a little more time before falling back into the life long grind of the working world.

So I've come to a conclusion. Do what you love. Everyone says it but no one ever does it. Often times what you love doesn't pay the bills. Don't get me wrong I love programming but I also love art and running and climbing. In my ideal world I could combine all 4 and make a living off of it! However I am currently locked into a 2 year contract in San Francisco and after those two years up I have several roads I hope to pursue all of which don't include staying on a 9 to 6 grind.

To be honest I've been doing a lot of reading from the North American Accident Reports and the Falcons guide self rescue book.What I would really like to be a part of is SAR [Search and Rescue]. It is crazy how much there is to learn and the amount of people out there who don't know enough. A specific quote from the 2012 edition sticks out to me. A man who had been rescued in Yosemite said "It's great to climb in the Valley. No matter how much trouble you get into you can just dial 911 for YOSAR.". So if you have an information on how to get prepared or involved in SAR I am all ears!

Till next time,
Naomi