By Daniel

Work was piling up on all fronts and I was on a collision course for classic burnout. Climbing up the corporate ladder, dedicating nights and weekends to a start-up, and of course blogging in between really left no time for anything… Then, she called me.

I hadn’t seen her in years, but she was just as I remembered her.

Sunday brunch was the request and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. A dose of champagne/mimosas, taken with great conversation and a small crush. It was refreshing and fun. I hadn’t felt so relaxed in months.

As we got up to leave I felt like that first grader running around the park and hearing the dreaded bell that ended recess. Is it over already?! Yes, sonny, it is… and she went leaving on a jet plane back to LA. I’m not sure if it was the champagne or the fact that it was my first deep conversation in months. I found myself standing there asking the question what should I do with my life now?

Lately it’s been a mental gauntlet of when I’ll pull this fence out of my ass. The never-ending conflict between temptations and aspirations. The lure of power and money that corporate readily offers and the sense of excitement and.. I guess…”rightness” that I feel in the entrepreneurial world. I’m realizing that I can’t have it all, and that I’m running head first into a wall six ways from Sunday.

I decided to talk to my mentor, so I shot him a meeting request to get on his calendar.

Beers?

What we discussed on the patio at Love and War in Texas will probably stick with me for the rest of my life. It was the peeling away of all the bull shit to reveal a new sense of self that reminded me why I respect this man so much. But, that revelation deserves its own post and I think it’ll be a pretty exciting one to write and share with you!

In the meantime, for all you life reflectors out there, here is a tidbit of Po Bronson’s article in Fast Company this month…

Don’t tell me you know what you want. Of course you know what you want: fulfillment, connection, responsibility… and some excitement. The real problem is figuring out how to get it. Which is hard. Of course it’s hard. It’s supposed to be hard. If it weren’t hard, you wouldn’t learn anything along the way.

If you don’t know how to make the best of a bad situation, you will never get there. If you are not wiling to put up with some shit work, you will never recognize that a good opportunity is staring you in the face. If you are not willing to be humble and repeatedly be a beginner in new areas and learn the details faster than the next guy, you are not capable of transformation. Only by embracing these realities will you be able to answer the question “What should I do with my life now?”

This post is the first of a three part series.

Part Two: Life’s Imperfections and Chasing the Inner Ring

Part Three: Our Quarter Life Crisis and the Life we Dream Of