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A literary exploration that asks seeks to answer the question Have I lived the life I intendedJesse Browner, a novelist with a full-time job at the United Nations, has written a book reminiscent of the Talking Heads classic song Once in a Lifetime. Based on an essay he wrote for Poets and Writers Magazine, Browner asks hard questions about life choices, about the tendency to believe there is a parallel life that might have been more fulfilling or more free. He wonders Is the true artist made by single-minded devotion to his craft Do we compromise our dreams in service to responsibilities to family and jobsThese questions prompted Browner to take a hard look at himself and the evolution that brought him to this moment of existential doubt. In How Did I Get Here he divides his adult life into five distinct phasesambition, love, work, fulfillment, and serenity.