So, What Are You Going to Do with the Rest of Your Life?

When I graduated from high school in 1969, being a Baby Boomer and living smack dab in the middle of a social revolution of cultural change, I was faced, as was every other grad, with... OK, now what are you seriously going to do with your life? I had absolutely no idea what to do next.

Something else was occurring during my teenage years and that was The Beatles and Woodstock. A revolution of music was happening and as fate would have it, I discovered I had a talent for music. I soon discovered that I had one exceptional talent in music that was not shared by many others and that was that I could sing. I had a voice that was my "special gift". I also discovered something I had never felt before and that was the acceptance and ability to be noticed and loved by others for my singing. This did more for my happiness and confidence that anything else I had ever done before in my life. Music was my savior and especially my voice. I couldn't believe how others suddenly looked at me differently, as I could do something that was special. This was life's gift to me.

As I also was fearful of traveling and doing whatever it would take to follow this dream and go to places where other musicians were discovered, like California or New York, I chose to follow what others of my generation were doing and pursue a college degree and join the work force, have a family and do the things that my Boomer generation was "supposed to do". I chose to put my "gift" in the background and play music as a sideline for extra money and because it was fun.

I worked at a few jobs until I ended up working for a corporation in the computer field for over 22 years. I always felt the decision to not make music "what I do" tugging at me and I never felt like I fit in the world I had chosen. I played music throughout those years and was always asked, "Why was I not playing and singing for a living" after others heard me. This always reaffirmed my awareness that I could sing, but also made me regretful that I wasn't making music my main focus. I knew that the life I was leading had purpose and nothing you do is every wrong if you learn from it. I have two wonderful children, whom I may have not had if I followed my dreams, so that was never wrong. I also learned a great deal of how to deal with people and how I would do things differently if I had the chance to have my own business, as I saw how dysfunctional the corporate world is when it came to knowing how to make people happy with what they are doing. Corporations have to hire personal coaches to come in and teach their workers how to get along and be happy, because they don't know how to do that. The competition and greed of the corporate world always focuses on the underlying misuse of people to grow that bottom line.

I now have the knowledge and confidence to face these times as a great opportunity and start my own business. I don't really want to retire and just sit around as is perceived by our Baby Boomer generation. I want to do what I love and at the same time, try to help others who are young and have a "gift" of music or art and help them find themselves. I want to give someone who has that "special gift" the inspiration to know that anything IS possible, if you try it hard enough and you know and love what you are doing. I have had a couple of once in a lifetime moments when I realized that I was able to make some impossible dreams come true. Once you feel that and know that, you then have the ability to do anything, because you have seen it happen.

This is my message to anyone who wonders what he or she want or should do with his or her life. Discover what is your "gift". When you find it, don't allow it to wither without trying to build on it. To parents with children who show that they have a "gift", whatever that may be, help them work on it, don't force them, but provide an environment that allows them to nurture it. Give them the knowing that you are there to help them build on their gift, whenever they want it.

There is nothing better than living this life, doing something you love. If you love what you do, success will come as a natural side effect. You do not need to search for what to do with you life that will succeed. Look for your "gift" and then develop it, as long as you possibly can. Success will come, in many forms, best of all in the form of happiness.