Time, not $$$

Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist fame nailed it in a recent article where she discusses the shift in the American dream, as it pertains to work and life success. The following paragraph summarizes the article very well:

"The new American dream is about time. It's not a race to earn the most to buy the biggest. It's a dream of personal growth and quality relationships. And, despite the declarations coming from Pew about unreachable dreams, our dream is not about accumulating money to do what we love at the end. We are hell-bent on doing what we love the whole way."

Now, I have no issues with working 60 hours or more per week if it's for something you are passionate about. Sadly, that is not the case for most people. In most cases, it is a direct exchange of time for money. Even worse, this exchange occurs during what could be the very best years of your life. It's pretty sad. I've discussed this topic with many of my college friends and far too many have fell into this trap. It's a cycle that becomes increasingly difficult to break. It's far to easy to get used to the power, money...to the lifestyle.

Part of my reason for taking this time off was to explore. It's amazing what you discover when you take a detour in the game of life. Some may think I'm lost (the ones that typically think that have never experienced a "gap year" themselves...go figure). But I'm not lost. Their are still many questions that need to be answers, but I've never felt so focused.

Read more at her blog.