My older daughter O is a huge fan of me telling her stories -- stories about dragons and monsters, stories about little girls like O, owie stories where Momma had an injury of sorts, all...kinds...of...stories.
During one of my stories somehow it came up that I studied Economics in school (don't ask me how), and I asked O if she knew what that meant. She replied "it's about eating." I figured, close enough. Then I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she said "A horse. No, a REAL horse."
This really stuck with me -- at her age, she knows no boundaries to what she can do. Astronaut, doctor, even a horse if she wants to be one. And the heartfelt emotion and passion to be a REAL horse -- to be something tangible, meaningful, without pretense. All she knows is to seek something fulfilling that matters to her.
My wise little Yoda. As I have moved into a more stable part of my life, post-divorce, I have contemplated what I needed to do next in my career - how should I begin to reinvest in myself. I'm working out, having some semblance of a personal life, and feeling joy in my life after a fair amount of heart ache. As I look to my job -- I struggle with the choices between work-life balance, career growth and ultimately feeling authentically in love with what I do. I *think* the answer right now lies in O's lesson -- don't be constrained by artificial boundaries you create in your head. YOU decide what is important, what you will accept and what you won't -- and that could mean hours of work, type of work, pay, whether this moves your career forward or it lets you hang out for bit, etc. You control the boundaries and there is power in that.
Then, whatever you do -- feel the real. Live it with all the intention you can muster, knowing this is the right place for your right now, and maybe you will make changes later, but right now, you are real and you've made your choices for real reasons.
Easier said than done, of course -- but if we can just find a little bit of that 3-year old imagination, freedom and authenticity, I think we can make the right now better, and make the right things happen in the future. I'm working on applying this thinking to both my current job and any future decisions I might make about what to do next.
Anyone else finding their way through tough career decisions?
