Jobs and life

My job hunt has been in full swing and I had several interviews with companies and one that I was particularly excited about. It was a management consulting role with Accenture. I would have been based out of NYC, on the road all the time and working with a variety of industries and companies. I think it would have fit me very well, but I did have very serious reservations about giving up my life here in SC. Given that it didn't work out, I think I am going to do my best to stay here and work on seeking out a job that gives me the flexibility and free time that I want in life. I am going to seriously consider going to into education. In the meantime I will probably continue to progress with my CFA and CAIA just so I have something to fall back on.

Through this process I feel like I began to sort out a loose life plan. I think over the next ten years or so I am going to pay off my house, save up some money and least enough to generate a little passive income. After that I will definitely be moving on to something like education so I have the chance to spend time with the family I hope to be starting by then. After the kids are older I think it would be nice to switch to something like local government and/or possibly be a Unitarian Universalist minister (or at least in a capacity to help people in that respect).

The rejection left me feeling a bit dejected for a day, but thankfully I was on my way to my parent's house in Salley when I received the email. If there was any ever doubt about my future, it was cleared up. After a good meal of mom's home cooking, a walk around the pond, and a few new fruit trees which I planted around the house everything was fine. Even if I never got another job, I would have to be pretty ungrateful not to be happy in an environment like that.

When I consider what I have. A nice downtown home, a house in the country, a loving family, a college degree with no student loans, great friends and a social network, reliable transportation, a great climate, good health, youth - who cares how much money I am making or what sort of job I have. I just need enough to provide for myself and have some savings. If I am honest, this job hunt has mostly been a pursuit of arrogance and image given I don't really enjoy the work all that much (certainly less than other things I could be doing with my time). I am personally not very worried about any of that (obviously, since I have taken the last two years off). I just worry what others will think of me if I don't go chase a big job. I have a fear of being labeled a failure... It's peer pressure, pure and simple. I am buying into the idea I need to have a prestigious job with good benefits, great pay, a corner office, a matching 401k, ect... but when I really consider what scares me, it's the idea of trading a large majority of my life for a paycheck and at the end of it wondering where the hell it went.