New Job! New Start!

I have a new job!  And I couldn't be more excited about it!!

I will be working as an "Employment Consultant" - matching clients with jobs that fit their interests and abilities.  I really feel like this job is a combination of all the parts that I liked from past jobs, and is very well-suited to my own interests and abilities.  I start on Monday!

I am thrilled to begin my journey down this new path.  However, at times I've slipped into feelings of regret and disappointment.

It's easy to look back and see how you could have handled things differently and better.  Knowing what I know now, there are certainly things I would do differently, if I could go back just a year or two.  At times I've been hard on myself about this.  But it is what it is.  We all have past actions, or non-actions, that we would possibly change if we could.  But we can't... it is what it is... and such is life.  Live and learn.

I'm making a concentrated effort to stay present and focus on the future, not the past.

                       

Another exciting development, apart from my new career, is the return of my joy of writing.

I had mistakenly thought that since I loved writing, I would love to make a living as a writer.  Not all passions can, or should, become our sole source of income.  Feeling the pressure to make a living through writing alone, I felt my passion and joy of writing dwindle.  Before I knew it, I didn't want to write anymore.

                            

Now that I have a new job, I will soon have a steady source of income, I'm also noticing my desire to write slowly return.  New ideas for fiction stories have begun swirling in my head again.  It's a nice feeling.

I'm definitely a believer in action.  How will you know, for sure, if you'll like something, or be good at something, until you do it?  That's been my life philosophy and I believe it's served me well.

I learned many things in the past two and a half years during which time my only job title was "writer."  I learned about myself, as a person.  I learned what kind of writing I actually like to do, and that there are kinds of writing that I don't like.  I learned what it takes to run a business (and that many aspects of that I don't have any interest in doing).

In the past I've taken jobs for granted.  I feel that now I will be much more appreciative of my steady employment.  I've seen the grass on the other side of the fence and it is not greener.  That, I believe, is the most important lesson I've learned through all of this.

Time to embark on a bright, new career path!  Time to remember what I've learned through my past choices, and step forward with confidence and excitement!

The future starts NOW!

             

                         

When Your Dream Shifts

Have you ever had a dream, a passion... pursued it... and it wasn't what you expected?

I've experienced that.

When I worked my last full-time job, two years ago, all I wanted to do was write.

I wrote the majority of my first novel while I still had a full-time job.

I loved writing so much, and I was sure I could "make it" as a writer, I quit that full-time job back in May of 2011.

I was a full-time writer.

Now I'm questioning if that is truly the career path for me.

Writing is still an interest.  Still something I intend on pursuing, on doing.  But once I added the pressure of having to make a living as a writer... I noticed a shift.  I no longer wanted to write.  I felt like I had to write.
So for the past week and a half, I've been seeking traditional employment again.

And honestly, I'm more surprised than anyone that I actually want a traditional, full-time job again.  I never thought I would.  I never thought I'd "go back."

But I don't think of it as "going back."  I'm moving forward.  I'm growing.  Growing up.

It's funny, but I felt it distinctly a couple weeks ago.  Like in that moment, that very second, I grew up.

I've always been a late bloomer.

I'm 36 and just now getting married (I've never felt ready for that committment before).
And I'm 36 and just now feeling ready for a full-time, real, grown-up job.

I remember my first job out of college.  I was a 6th grade teacher.  I often felt like a kid doing a grown up's job.

Now I feel like a grown up.  I've been excited looking for full-time jobs.  I'm excited about the future again.