Monday, October 5, 2015

After a weekend of reading, I am doubting everything




Like medical students who come to believe they have each affliction they learn of, I have some to believe that I am afflicted with border-less ignorance. I am starting to believe that I have nothing interesting to say and no way to say it if I did. Each book or article I read reveals how little I understand. I have, for instance, massively oversimplified issues around “lone wolf terrorism.” This is the bad news.
 
The good news is that I am starting to understand what I am capable of – what sort of work of journalism, what book, which I might be capable of writing and enjoy writing. This is good because this next year (now eleven months) is the start of one final career. I hope to come away from this with a good understanding of the limits of my skills and a good vision for what I would like to spend the next ten years doing. 

The Gordian knot is frayed. It's not yet undone but it's loosening. I don't think that ignorance is bliss, I think it's motivating.


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