While Fantasizing About Dream Careers
…I Read Books About Them Instead
Have you ever fantasized about a dream career? I know I certainly do.
The beauty of life is that we always have a variety of option that we can explore.
How about a stint as an aerial trapeze artist with Cirque du Soleil…….
……….or serving as a humanitarian aid worker in Central Africa;
………what would it look like to launch an innovative new business as a tech entrepreneur.
We could go on and on with possibilities.
A friend of mine told me recently about someone he knows, a former physician, who after retiring in his seventies, went back to school to become a saxophonist. Now how cool is that!
My first career right out of college in nineteen hundred and eighty six was in HR. I began as a Human Resources Generalist working for The Ohio State University Hospitals before moving on to a Director of Human Resources position with a rural hospital just southeast of Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 1992, I accepted a HR leadership position with the Resurrection Healthcare System in Chicago. I resigned a year later to be with my mom before her passing from cancer.
Since then I’ve had careers as a speaker and seminar leader and independent journalist. Now nearing the ripe ole age of 60, I am passionately engaged in building “Great Books, Great Minds,” a global community committed to igniting a new world of community, connection, and belonging, one book at a time.
In term of legacy aims, I have three:
Achieve the milestone of 1-million “Great Books, Great Minds” subscribers by 2030
Visit 2020 bookstores across the world by 2030
Become a MacArthur Fellow
While I have never been more happy and fulfilled, I must admit to occasional thoughts of other fantasy pursuits . The options I ruminate on, while completely out of the box, bring a sense of wonderment to my spirit. Here are the three that continue to resonate with me along with the books that keep the pilot light on in my head.
Chef
10 years ago I could barely cook a meal to save me. Today, inspired by my culinary muse and lifelong friend Debbie, I can curate a broad selection of breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes that will have you licking your bowl or plate.
My favorite leisure entertainment activity is to watch cooking episodes of Chopped. I also like sampling favorite fine dining spots like Denver’s Cherry Creek Grill, Tao Asian Bistro and Lounge (Las Vegas) and The Slanted Door (San Francisco) largely for the opportunity to take in live culinary scenes.
Needless to say, all of this continues to fuel my longing to go to culinary school.
My greatest inspiration is the book Kitchen Confidential by the late food traveler and critic Anthony Bourdain. It describes in delicious detail the long and perilous road Bourdain took to become a world-class chef at a fancy restaurant in Manhattan. It is an amazing read that I’d highly recommend to anyone else who from time to time fantasizes about being front and center in the culinary world.
Acupuncturist/Chinese Medicine Doctor
My first encounter with Eastern Medicine was with a San Francisco Bay Area Chinese Medicine doctor in 2003. The reason for my visit was in the hope of exploring some options for the terrible allergies I was having at the time. Before I can barely get in the door of her practice location, the doctor I was scheduled to see says to me “stick out your tongue!” With my mouth now ajar, she does an intense assessment before blurting out, “it’s your liver. We need to address your liver.”
As the story goes, after putting me on a liver detox regimen consisting of the herbs milk thistle and dandelion, my allergies pretty much disappeared for good. I've been a huge proponent of Chinese medicine and Acupuncture ever since.
Honestly, I haven't been to a traditional doctor in over 40 years. And I enjoy near perfect health.
My current acupuncturist who serves as a critical part of my self care health practices is in San Diego. Her name is Cara Dinote and she is amazing. Be sure to check out her practice Andara Acupuncture if you are ever there.
In recent years, inspired by Sacramento acupuncturist Dr. Tenisha Dandridge, one of few Black acupuncturists in the nation, I strongly entertained the thought of pursuing a PhD in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture at the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Denver. Sadly, the pandemic put the kibosh on those plans.
I first learned about Dandridge by way of an article she wrote for MyDaoLabs about how acupuncture was brought to the U.S. in part by the Black Panther Party in the 70s.
Among the books I’ve read in recent years to fuel my continued interest in the field is The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine by Daniel Keown. This highly accessible, witty, and at times over my head book examines the ways in which western medicine intersects with the theoretical underpinnings of Chinese medicine. It offers a fresh take on how western and Chinese medicine support each other, and how these integrated systems can boost our understanding of how our bodies work on every level
African-American History Professor
Here is a little known fact — I was accepted to a PhD program in 2009 and was all set to make my full leap into higher education — that is, until I let my now ex-wife talk me out of it. Honestly, it’s one of the biggest regrets of my life.
To this day, I still dream of applying to the African-American Studies PHD program at Northwestern University in my dream town of Evanston, Illinois. This, however, now feels like an unrealistic move given my age and other career goals.
Whenever I want to relive that fantasy, I turn to a book by my all time favorite academic and thinker Cornel West. Entitled “Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud” it chronicle's Dr. West’s rise as one of America’s most provocative and admired public intellectuals.
While I still live vicariously through him by way of my relentless pursuit of knowledge featured in “Black Books, Black Minds,” I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to regularly harboring thoughts of what could have been.
A Note From Diamond-Michael Scott:
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