Success

Dec 21, 2005++++++What is Success? When I was little my parents played volleyball at the South Boulder Rec center and there were frequently college aged friends playing volleyball, drinking beer and playing cool music on the radio. I never realized how much I wanted that until this summer when it occurred to me that I had become those young adults, and it's an incredible feeling to recognize your own success. It was a real eye opener to me when it happened, and it was then that I noticed young kids building castles in the sand, watching us play.



When I was a little older, going to school and dreading every homework assignment, I really wanted to be done with school. I looked at all those grownups who went off to work and I thought it would be so great to be done with school so I could work. This past summer, I again realized that my goal was met and unlike those sob stories of people who realized they hated work more than school, it was actually great. Sure the job was stressful, but evenings and weekends were spent outside, or programming or vegging out in front of a DVD.



When I started college, I had no car, a terrible job at Target and had to share a bathroom with 40 other guys on my floor. I decided that a metric for my success would be never needing a room mate after I graduated. I actually reached that a little early, I now have a one bedroom apartment of my own and a car as well.



Now I'm looking at career stuff, and I'm trying to decide how it all fits. Do I head West to work in Silicon Valley with an impressive company and bragging rights galore? Do I stay here where I can still hike far enough from town that I can forget civilization for a while, and be back in time to meet my girlfriend for lunch? I've also been going to school for 16.5 years, should I travel a bit before deciding to stay in one spot for the next 3-5 years? Everyone I know pushing me to be successful, when is anyone going to tell me exactly what that is?