Stephanie Klein reposted her 2004 entry for 9/11 today. I’m responding to her post with this one because I think what she’s saying is truly important.

She writes:

Last night I opened The Joy Diet by Martha Beck.  I opened it to a random page, as if I were cutting a deck of cards. Figure Out What Your Career Really Is headed the top of the page.  Just answer this question, and you’ll find your answer: What did you do the evening of September 11, 2001?

It goes like this: it’s a time of crisis and panic, when you’re uncertain and nervous.  So what did you do?  Did you phone friends and family and keep them in arm-distance as you watched the news for days?  Did you flee your office with your unfinished manuscript?  Beyond the phone calls and the are you alrights, what did you do?  Beck suggests in times of uncertainty our deepest values and true career are reflected in our actions.  Your real career is whatever action your heart and soul need to take; it’s not necessarily what you do for a living right now.  Despite how you choose to spend your free time or how you earn your paycheck, the answer to what you did the evening of September 11 is a strong indicator of what you should be doing.  I love this idea.

Stephanie goes on to say that she cooked that night.

I can’t remember much of what I did that night. Everything was pretty much a blur. I know that I spoke on the phone with my family as soon as I could get connected with them. I watched the news, even though I really didn’t want to keep replaying the day in my mind.

If I had had a kitchen, I’m pretty sure I would have cooked, too. And I would have gathered friends and family together to share a delicious meal and take care of each other.

But that day, we had to flee our apartment – literally.

I had just moved with my then-boyfriend to a new apartment, and since we were living so close to the site – on Park Row – our building was evacuated shortly before the Towers fell. We had moved in on September 8, and most of my stuff was still in boxes. I would never live there again.

I’m still ever grateful that I did not lose any friends or family that day, though it was not an easy time nonetheless. Within a month, my relationship broke up, I lost my job, and I had no place to live. I’m fortunate that I have wonderful friends and family that helped me through that difficult time in my life and supported me when I needed it most.

But what good that did happen for me after everything was amazing – I knew that I was meant to do something more with my time. I needed to find work that had more meaning to me.

Eventually, through trial and error and experiments, I found holistic health counseling. Helping people improve their lives feels good – and is a big part of what I was meant to do.

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