a common thread seems to be working outside and/or working with animals. I'm convinced that there are qualities to these jobs that resonate more with our innate (evolved) abilities than a desk / programming job. I'm thinking of taking 3-4 months off to volunteer in a national park (or something like that) between my current job and my next
There is something to that. I live on a farm and while I bitch about going outside in subzero temperatures to care for the animals, there is a satisfaction in doing the basic, hard physical work that I don't get from sitting at a desk programming.
We are definitely hardwired to be outside and it's sad that we spend so much of our time indoors. Surrounded by the white silence of snow, admiring the beauty of sundogs on a -10F morning is an amazing way to begin a workday.
And starting out your day sliding around in mud & chickenshit certainly gives you perspective when listening to some drone in a meeting :-)
