[ArcheM]

A gentle German man named Peter Beer muttered to me a podcast episode about finding your calling in life. There were seven questions that I don't remember verbatim, but one of them was something like "What would a regular day of your dream life be like?" In detail. Another - "What would you do if money didn't matter at all?"... And there's supposed to be 5 more questions, but I either don't remember, or in fact I didn't catch them because I was listening on the go, with all kinds of noises, etc.

Oh, yes, "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"

I really struggle with responding to these questions, and I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be, or it says something about me.

The last question kind of doesn't work for me. The thing is that I've tried doing what I wanted and have failed... I haven't stopped trying though, which is the important thing, I guess.

What I would do if money didn't matter, though - I would leave this place, although I'm not sure exactly where. Somewhere closer to nature. And I think I would just do nothing, quite frankly. Except trying to understand myself.

And then the "day of your dream life" question... Which is hard to respond to if you don't know yourself. I don't even know if I'm an owl or an early bird. What do I like more, getting up early or going to bed late? Either situation has its charms... One thing is for sure, a day of my dream life would end with me dropping on the bed and immediately falling asleep, although I suspect it has more to do with a dream body and metabolism than a dream life.

Anyway, I thought I'd share, and maybe people would like to give their own responses.

[Rajjing]

This is rather serendipitous as I am also struggling to find my calling right now. First of all I'd be very interested in the name and episode of the podcast. As for if money and experiences were no object I would love to be the Anthony Bourdain of the hiking world. Get paid to travel, hike new and interesting places and then get to tell people about them and try to bring them alive to people/maybe inspire them to get out and hike themselves. As my season winds down I keep telling myself I'm going to at least get a blog started and start doing that locally but I a) I haven't and b) when I think about it I never know if that's what I want to do or if it's the hypomania talking.

[ArcheM]

I don't know if this disclaimer is necessary, but it's in German. The podcast is Achtsamkeit leben. It's the latest on the iTunes feed (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/...205912174?mt=2).

Anyway, I had a slight nitpick. Maybe it's misguided, and you actually grasped the essence of the question correctly, but from my point of view "...if money didn't matter at all" means no "get paid to travel" either. I guess it's really a small nitpick, but you still are putting "where would I be getting money from" into the equation... And you're sort of supposed to look at yourself absent of any pressure.

[Rajjing]

Originally Posted by ArcheM

I don't know if this disclaimer is necessary, but it's in German. The podcast is Achtsamkeit leben. It's the latest on the iTunes feed (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/...205912174?mt=2).

Anyway, I had a slight nitpick. Maybe it's misguided, and you actually grasped the essence of the question correctly, but from my point of view "...if money didn't matter at all" means no "get paid to travel" either. I guess it's really a small nitpick, but you still are putting "where would I be getting money from" into the equation... And you're sort of supposed to look at yourself absent of any pressure.

I guess I see it as, "if money was no object as in you can do anything and it will support you, what would you do to support yourself?". I would still want to do that even if I had a trust fund so large I never had to work. Also disclaimer is important because I don't understand a lick of German beyond Wilkommen and some other words used in Cabaret the musical.

[ArcheM]

Sorry about that... I know that podcast won't be accessible to a lot of people on here. Although to be fair, my German is spotty at best.

[ArcheM]

I've actually relistened to the podcast (but still managed to miss stuff) and another question was "What did you really enjoy doing as a child?"

I have to say that I was a voracious storyteller as a child. But somehow I've become more and more verbally limited with time. I feel that in part it has to do with insecurity and depression... You could say "NaNoWriMo" is a perfect way to deal with it, but I frankly still feel too dependent on others' opinions right now... For some reason I've remembered that about 10 years ago I said that I would write only for myself. I gave up quickly on this resolution, by sharing what I had written with another person, and then changing my philosophy to writing for others... But I think that resolution was right. Except I didn't know how to follow it properly.

[ArcheM]

I also had this thought: Isn't it weird how I used to be that person, but now I have to consult him like a stranger? To make better decisions. I... or he, didn't actually know better, but...

[ArcheM]

Oh, another one I've remembered: Without what would your dream life be unthinkable? (Or something like that.) Peter specifically mentioned hanging out with friends and family. And possibly also yoga.