I always wanted to be a ___________________ [fill in the blank with your favorite coulda-shoulda-woulda dream job] but I couldn’t ever quite get there because ________________________ [now, fill in that blank with the excuse/reason/person/whatever that kept you from your dream job].

Ya know, if I ever hear someone tell me that again, I think I’m going to barf all over myself.  Really.  I just don’t want or know how to accept these kinds of comments.  As Bill Cosby might say, “Come on, People.”

I mean, really.  Do you believe that there’s really anything other than yourself who’s holding you back?  Unless you’re physically locked up, strapped down, or held hostage, I just can’t believe there’s not a way out and on to your dream job and the life that you want outside of cubicleville or burgerland or whatever other trap you’ve found yourself in.

So, it was with such incredible joy that I came across this passage from my favorite historian, David McCullough, in his gem of an essay called No Time to Read? and here it is:

Once upon a time in the dead of winter in the Dakota territory, Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat down the Little Missouri River in pursuit of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized rowboat. After several days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then Roosevelt set off in a borrowed wagon to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. They headed across the snow-covered wastes of the Badlands to the rail head at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, the entire 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in Roosevelt’s eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina. I often think of that when I hear people say that they haven’t time to read.

All right now, Dream Jobber . . . you don’t have time to sink your teeth into prepping for something — a change in career — that you’ve wanted your whole life?

Come on, People!

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