All who wander are not lost.

But when you’ve wandered around a while, you’re starting believe that you might really be lost.

Since my 6-year career at the nonprofit ended in March, I’ve been wandering in and out of small projects and side jobs, and online and in-person interviews.

I’ve wandered into the territory of full-time freelancing, puffed up with optimism and confidence. But some negative experiences with people along with what Seth Godin called “Lizard Brain”–the resistance part of your brain telling you to slow down and be careful–sent me packing.

Eventually, I return to the familiar open space of full-time job opportunities. The field is wide open–perhaps a little too wide open with too many players.  In my general directions, the jobs I want are few and far between.  My love for the quiet, suburban life clashes with my despise for a long commute.  Some people can do it. I really just can’t.

Meanwhile, I keep passing along opportunities to friends who live in town, hoping that they’d get lucky and the good job hunting karma will come back my way.

In all of this, occasionally, I feel lost.

The wind is taken off my sail with every unanswered application and every rejection email. High hopes spun me around just to be left adrift in the middle of nowhere.  When all is still like that, I would head toward he cabin to start a pity party.

But someone else seems to have a different plan for me.

Like this past week.

The phone rang. Got a short term gig for you, he said.  And so I set sail.

A few days into that journey, the phone rang again. An interview. And then a chat with a recruiter.  The inbox that has been devoid of any job leads coughs up a few notes.

And then my calendar pops open.

USC football season starts 2 weekends from now. Italian lessons begin a month from now. I’ve also got to get started on the TARDIS dress.  My weekdays will be filled for the next month–hopefully longer, and better yet, permanently–and my Saturdays are taken up through the end of the year.

I am no longer lost.

Hell, I won’t even have time to be lost, come to think of it.