hello everyone, it is a beautiful sunny day in SF.

when i was in the process of leaving the law firm almost 2 years ago, i read a little book by kent nerburn. he had a chapter on WORK that influenced my decision to leave. i am not quoting directly from the book because i don't have the book with me, but will do my best, based on memory.

The word vocation has latin roots meaning "calling"-- what are you called to do in your life? this becomes your dream.

some folks are lucky in that they figure out their calling before leaving their previous job, with another job lined up that fulfills their dreams.others need to leave the previous job so that they have the space to figure out their calling. it is perfectly ok to leave a job without a follow up job lined up, to give yourself the space to sort out your calling.

whatever you decide to do with your life's work, do not take your selection lightly. you become what you do. and what you do becomes you. hour by hour. day by day. how are you occupying your time? is your job a vehicle for your dreams? if not, it can become a prison, a cell that slowly distances you away from your dreams. and a person without dreams is a very sad thing indeed.

does this resonate with you? how so?

quote:

Originally posted by p7eggyc:
Anyone else interested? Sheri, I think this would be a totally appropriate place for you to figure out some of your post retirement thoughts too.

Excellent idea and, yes, I would be interested. Some level of accountability would help me immensely because, as silly as it sounds, I just FORGET what my goals are sometimes and that I need to keep moving forward on things. That's why putting my goals in my siggy when we've had challenges was so helpful to me--it just keeps it in front of my face. And this would be even more true for retirement planning since there is a good bit of fear surrounding it and therefore procrastination can easily get its foot in the door!

count me in peg!

I am so incredibly blest and fortunate to have gotten my life's work out of my three dreams as a teenager. I wanted to be a wife and mother, I did that by the time I was 35 and enjoyed every minute of it, even the bad ones. I wanted to be a teacher more than ANYTHING besides wife and mother, and I did that for 14 years, loving every minute of it. When I became disabled, it was tough giving up those things, because docs told me that I would never teach again, a sword went through my heart. I could be a wife and mother, but at what capacity, surely not the way I had before. It was tough, but I have two strong, intelligent, independent young men for sons, and a 28 year marriage to show for it. I am in the "NOW what?" phase of life. Now what do I do, and what can I do? I don't let opportunities pass me by, I have tried many things in the last two years, from substitute teaching to tutoring, to people things, to factory things....what gives me pleasure and substinance is working with people. And that is what I am doing now. Don't wait as long as I did, do some of those things now. So that your "Now What" time flows into your other life smoothly.

Sounds great Peggy!

Dawn

I have more to share on this when I'm not so busy at my dream job but wanted to pose this question:

I know that there are several of us exploring these types of questions and/or looking for new jobs. I was wondering if others would be interested in a regular thread where we could talk about issues, celebrate successes, be accountable, etc. It would be sort of a career focused combo journal/exercise accountability/challenge type thread the way I have it pictured and I would be happy to help facilitiate it and keep it up toward the top of the list if people felt like they would participate. For me, I need the accountability piece most of all so that I consistently follow up and move my job search forward. Anyone else interested? Sheri, I think this would be a totally appropriate place for you to figure out some of your post retirement thoughts too.

Peg

I think I figured out on a mission trip to Honduras a couple of years ago that my calling involves foreign languages particularly Spanish.

I love interpreting (don't particulary enjoy translating though).

I need to figure out how to work it into a career. Right now, I get to do some interpreting, so this is as close as it gets for now. (I'm a paralegal in the field of immigration law.) I don't want to do this the rest of my life.

I've been pondering the whole "What do I want to do when I grow up?" question a lot recently.

Dawn

Like BrenauMom, I have worked a lot of jobs, and when I was starting my career in nursing my true calling in life (that had NEVER been on my radar before!) came to fruition. I was pregnant (this actually was my 3rd pregnancy...the first 2 lost to miscarriage) and dh and I agreed that for the first couple of years of our child's life, I would be a stay at home mom. That was 14 years ago, and when I have gone back to work per diem in the first year after our dd was born I cried the entire day and was miserable and realized that I hated my job! The job that I had really trained for all my life with all of my education, etc, is exactly what I am doing now....being caregiver to my family and home educating my children. I get a lot of sneers and funny looks and comments on what I'll do after the kids are gone, etc, but I firmly believe that I will continue on at home....caring for my husband, and Lord-willing helping my children and their spouses with our grandchildren as they need me. Most of you know that we struggle financially most months, and that this has been no easy road for us, but it is one that we feel called to, and it is where I am most satisfied! No, I don't get a paycheck, but my dividends are absolutely priceless and I wouldn't trade them for ANY amount of money in the world! (As I was writing that last sentence my 11 year old son got out of bed and came and give me a kiss and said "Good morning Mom, I love you".....what amount of $$ could replace that?)


My calling (even though I didn't know it until after marriage and college) was to be a wife and mother, andif you had told me that when I was growing up I would have laughed in your face....now I can't imagine my life being any different!

I love what I do right now. One of my important requirements is feeling like my job is part of a "bigger picture"...and now, what I do and how well I do it can directly save the lives of US, Coalition, and NATO troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It requires a focus of my perfectionist tendencies, the ability to concentrate and nitpick for hours at a time, and demands absorbing a lot of information in a short amount of time. It also requires using unusual methods to find and consolidate information--they've let me work with IT folks to design a brand new database.

Right now, I do love what I do. The people around me think I should be looking at moving on to a higher-level job (someone who pulls the information together and analyzes it instead of disseminates it), but I don't know. I really like this.

I also really like to train and teach (I initially wanted to be a teacher), and that's been a saving grace of many jobs--getting tapped to train new people.

well my current calling is sahm...stay at home mom. I homeschool a special needs child- hearing impaired, autism characteristics, adhd.... and while some days are rough I honestly feel God somehow designed me for it. Before this I was an engineer for 10 years or so...working for a chemical company in the auto industry. I did OK but it was good to leave. No regrets. I was with some 'older' ladies who have kids in college recently. They said the next stage (when the kids leave) brings greater uncertainty but big blessings.

I never had a "career" all I have ever had were "jobs". Some were more interesting than others and I was really good at some of them but none of them were inspiring.

When I was growing up all I wanted to be was a stay-at-home wife and mother. I was a wife for 2 years and have been a single mother for 25 years but I have had to work (& be responsible for getting the bills paid) all those 27 years.

Even at 60, I would still like to find something I could do and be passionate about.

When I was in high school, I thought I really wanted to be a secretary. I was at the top of my class in typing and shorthand and I liked the idea of being the cog that keeps the whole place running. I never knew that I could reach higher. So, after 5 1/2 years of being a secretary (and a damn good one), I had an opportunity to transition from the administrative to the professional series.

In the Federal Govt., such an opportunity is a rare and wonderful thing. The first couple of years were not great, but I learned my craft. Because I excelled at it and because my talents and personality quirks (perfectionism, ability to be very detail-oriented, etc.) fit the job very well, I was given more and more responsibility as years past. It never got boring because the job was always being expanded and I was moving up. Now I am at the end of my career and I am very well respected and considered an expert in my field.

Was it some childhood dream of mine to be a Regulatory Affairs Manager for the Fed. Govt.? Of course not, I didn't even know such a job existed much less know what it was. But I first grew into it and, later, it and I grew together and melded very successfully.

Now I am under a year from qualifying to retire. So my take on this homework is not about finding the right career for me, but about finding the right POST-career activity(ies) for me. Being single, I know that retiring will cut back my income a lot, and it will be several more years til I can get at my 401K and IRA so I will be living on straight Govt. retirement if I retire later this year.

It's a lot to think about--to retire or not? To continue SOME kind of work to make extra money or not? To do volunteer work but what kind? So these are things I must begin spending more time thinking about in the coming months.

This homework comes at the perfect time for me.

I do feel like I'm doing my life's calling. I love being a wellness coach and helping people with their journey to be healthier. I also feel like I have a great work-home balance and I'm totally present for my dd before and after school which is hugely important to me. I also love the flexibility of making my own schedule and being able to volunteer at school, eat lunch with dd occassionally and go to assemblies.

I've been wrestling though with what I want to do with this career and how I see the future playing out. This Oprah thing could potentially open some doors to me which I had never really considered and I've been doing much soul searching.

I don't want to squander what could potentially be a once in a lifetime opportunity to reach a much broader audience but on the other hand, I feel like my first priority must be my family.

I'm just not sure that this is the right time in my life for me to be making a huge jump in my committment to work.

I already have four new clients who are starting with me this month and some existing clients want to broaden what they are doing with me and this is all before the broadcasting of the Oprah show.

I just don't know how "big" I want this career to get....

I have more soul searching to do for sure.