Young & Restless — where 2007 will take me

“Yesterday don’t matter if it’s gone.”

It occurs to me that in all of my fantasies — all my day dreams that linger in my imagination and rise up just before falling asleep at night — I’m a vagabond… a bohemian. (Isn’t bohemian a beautiful word?) I travel the world and read and write with naught but a dog to commit to. (I will always have a dog.) And I’m always really, really happy.

Which is why, one year after I’ve started at my fantastic communications firm, I’m really feeling the itch. It’s not that I’m unhappy here… I do really like my job. It’s not that I’m not learning... my bosses are brilliant women, and simply listening to their conversations is beneficial. And it’s not that I don’t think I’m going places… after one promotion, a raise, and another promotion within reach, I’d be a fool to say I’ve “plateau-ed.” When they day comes to leave this place, I will be a bit sad. But that day will come.

People tell me I’m a fool. They say I’ve got a good thing here, I have a lease on a fantastic apartment, and staying another year would be smart — for my career, for financial reasons, for a personal life.

And yet, I can’t imagine anything worse than being in this same spot at the end of 2007 facing yet another 6 months of sameness. Instead, I see Paris in the summer, learning French. I see Provence in the fall, wining & dining, writing my book and admiring the sails. I also see D.C., enhancing my media skills as part of a political campaign (but for a candidate who’s sure to lose, freeing me from the job by November ’08 — in case I don’t like it). And I see San Francisco, where I’d empower social entrepreneurs while working for the Skoll Foundation. But there’s so much more — I see Chicago, LA, D.C. again to work at the French Embassy, Montreal to polish my language skills (but not for too long — can you imaging the winter?!), and I see myself coming back to Boston. I see a world of opportunities, and I don’t see how people could just pick one.

Is that a bad thing? Is it bad to dream of seeing the world, living in as many places as possible? I think one could argue it’s impractical — and expensive — but not bad. Is it bad to hate commitments? To think of a year as an incredibly long time? People tell me it’s not necessarily “bad,” but it is immature. I argue that it’s freedom.

And, after all, that’s the only way to be.

“There's no time to lose…
Catch your dreams before they slip away…
Lose your dreams and you will lose your
mind.”