If you are semi-young, have found one of those career-type jobs, and have been doing a lot of rexamination lately as to where it is you are in your development as an artist, a designer, a businessperson, etc., this is the one essay you must read: Reconsidering Design. Maybe it's just a similar period in this guest editor's life, or maybe it's just a very universal feeling (probably a mix of both, really), but it just hit dead on. Really just a nice thing to read. And to not ruin it by droning on any further, here's the first bit of the opening:

In the first years of our studio, I was happy all of the time. No amount of work was too much. I had been unhappy for so long in the role I had previously held that the business was inspiration in itself. We were broke, and I mean really, really broke. We were also invigorated though. We were thrilled by the possibility we saw in our studio, and as a result, I was in love with every moment I could put in to the work.

Having always been a rather emotional person, I often fall into bouts where I am unsure of my direction. In my early years of art school, I nearly quit to pursue a business degree. Thankfully, UBC didn't accept me, and as such, I was forced to follow through with the only pursuit that ever really mattered to me.

My partner at smashLAB often notes that he and I are similar in the way that we like to learn. He noted that he's only interested in things until he starts to succeed, at which point, he feels the need to change careers. (Paradoxically, this is often the same point at which one is actually earning a survivable wage.) He has also noted that this pattern often runs in five year cycles. I share this tendency, and by last fall, I was starting to question where we were at.