Job you want vs Job you need

Today, I had a brief realization that in all my history of finding employment.. I've really had it easy.

At 16, I started helping my mom at the OB-GYN office she worked for and eventually found myself on their payroll as a medical biller.

At 18, I joined the Army and got paid to work out everyday, learn how to shoot a rifle and throw a grenade, and gain what meant to me then as the first step to complete financial independence.

At 19, I was gainfully employed by the University as a student technician -- though I hated dissecting computers and helping people who couldn't even figure out that the reason why their computer's not working is because it isn't turn on, I stuck with it in hopes of adding what masked itself as relative "field experience".

At 20, I stayed with the University but decided to venture a different world in IT and worked with graphic design and webpage publishing.

At 21, I was whisked away by Uncle Sam to Bosnia for a year and got paid to manage a very powerful and military operated propaganda machine masked as a radio station.

At 22, I decided I had to do something [even remotely] relevant to the four-year degree I was working towards on getting and scored an internship with the 4th largest bank in California on the first try. 3 months later, I found myself almost arrogantly turning down two other offers to work as the youngest project manager in the company. I have to admit, I was proud of myself, but the satisfaction was shallow. I got a promising job in my field of study without the degree.

At 23, moving to West Virginia brought out the cynic in me [even relentlessly joked about ending up working at Walmart]. Fortunately, luck was on my side again, and after working as an Executive Assistant temp for about 2 months, I scored and got hired full time as an Office Manager.

Looking back, I'm thankful to all the hiring managers who had the foresight to see through my "yes" attitude. Even though, I was sitting in an interview not 100 percent sure if I even wanted the job, I kept saying "yes I'd love to work here, yes I fit in and yes please hire me". It has worked for me thus far, and although I know there are people who would kill to be in the position that I am in, I am inexorably venting my frustration in not being able to find the right job for me. Yes, despite my uncanny confession that it has been easy for me to find a job, I know that finding any job takes work. The kicker? Finding a job that I want is going to require much harder work.

Like many others, I want a job that satisfies the basic requirement of a good paycheck. I want THE job that continually challenges me to be better, the kind of job that I don't dread every waking moment to. Therein lies the problem of me not really knowing what I want. So how can I be frustrated? It's like looking for an answer to a question that hasn't been presented in the first place...