Jobs

That was a great post Paula. It opened my eye's up alot!

This thread is so interesting. I will have both my kids read it. They have seen me as a full time mom and their dad as a full time corporate lawyer, whose job is very demanding. I felt very fortunate to be able to stay at home for them, but my advice to my daughter and others is I admit I failed when it came to following a passion for myself all those years (besides volunteering). I am now in the process of finding out what is out there.

This thread is so interesting. I will have both my kids read it. They have seen me as a full time mom and their dad as a full time corporate lawyer, whose job is very demanding. I felt very fortunate to be able to stay at home for them, but my advice to my daughter and others is I admit I failed when it came to following a passion for myself all those years (besides volunteering). I am now in the process of finding out what is out there.

Sueshore, I wouldn't have had the courage to write what you did, but since you did, I'll admit that my life parallels yours. I've also never found a passion for myself when it came to having a career. I've never had one. Oh, I've had lots of jobs and I've been lucky enough to like each and every one of them, but maybe that's because I never lasted very long in any of them! I always quit and moved on to something else when the boredom set in. That definitely does not make for a career. I've been a jack-of-all-trades for my whole life. I hope that I too will find something that will make use of my talents. I'd like to make a modest contribution to the SoWal mortgage my husband pays, just for the sake of my own pride.

Sueshore, I wouldn't have had the courage to write what you did, but since you did, I'll admit that my life parallels yours. I've also never found a passion for myself when it came to having a career. I've never had one. Oh, I've had lots of jobs and I've been lucky enough to like each and every one of them, but maybe that's because I never lasted very long in any of them! I always quit and moved on to something else when the boredom set in. That definitely does not make for a career. I've been a jack-of-all-trades for my whole life. I hope that I too will find something that will make use of my talents. I'd like to make a modest contribution to the SoWal mortgage my husband pays, just for the sake of my own pride.

And I feel the complete opposite. I envy all of the stay-at-home mom's. I have been the bread winner in my family alway's. I would love to be able to volunteer and just do thing's that I wanted to do. I would have loved to have been able to stay at home with my son when he was little. I see both sides of the coin of though. I like what I do, and I am not complaining about having to work, however not having too would have been fine with me also!!!!!

And I feel the complete opposite. I envy all of the stay-at-home mom's. I have been the bread winner in my family alway's. I would love to be able to volunteer and just do thing's that I wanted to do. I would have loved to have been able to stay at home with my son when he was little. I see both sides of the coin of though. I like what I do, and I am not complaining about having to work, however not having too would have been fine with me also!!!!!

There's the rub...BALANCE!! You seemed to have found it!

Mermaid...I am nothing but honest...you know that!!! Why do ya' think I get in TROUBLE! What job could I do that requires VERBAL HONESTY??? I am really very nice and talk to everyone I see. NO...I will not work at Wal Mart as a greeter, anywhere else, maybe. I have really wanted to be a grocery store clerk...would I get bored?

Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh!! I cannot believe I have heard two other women on the same day express the exact same thing I am going through. Since watching Forest Gump last week I have begun to wonder "what's my destiny" or do we just float through life on a breeze? :idontno:

I read a good book once called "living without a goal". I thought it was very wise. In fact Oprah magazine (great magazine) had an article about living without a goal and it said one of the problems with goals is that we can focus so much on them that we miss living in the present. I tore the article out of the magazine because I liked it so much and I'll post the other good things it said if I find it again.

I read a good book once called "living without a goal". I thought it was very wise. In fact Oprah magazine (great magazine) had an article about living without a goal and it said one of the problems with goals is that we can focus so much on them that we miss living in the present. I tore the article out of the magazine because I liked it so much and I'll post the other good things it said if I find it again.

Do you know, Paula, I think a variation of that might be true as well! I know I hyper focus on whatever I'm doing and then I get all burnt out on it and consequently disinterested. And then on to whatever catches my fancy next. No wonder I've never adopted a career in anything. I only do "samplers."

i am currently loving my job even more - got a raise ! it will just about cover the new college fund i will be starting for neice or nephew #2 when hw or she gets here !

i am currently loving my job even more - got a raise ! it will just about cover the new college fund i will be starting for neice or nephew #2 when hw or she gets here !

Congrats!! You are a really "great" aunt!

Congrats!! You are a really "great" aunt!

YES she is!!! I think we should call you Auntie Mame!!!!

you should probably call me auntie broke !

There's the rub...BALANCE!! You seemed to have found it!

Mermaid...I am nothing but honest...you know that!!! Why do ya' think I get in TROUBLE! What job could I do that requires VERBAL HONESTY??? I am really very nice and talk to everyone I see. NO...I will not work at Wal Mart as a greeter, anywhere else, maybe. I have really wanted to be a grocery store clerk...would I get bored?

Oh no! I was a grocery store clerk in high school and not the best job.....made a college education important. Long hours, stand on your feet, and people grip about the prices as if you had anything to do with it or could change them.....not much fun. No holidays and the day before Thanksgiving was the day from hell....only snow days matched the long lines.

Oh no! I was a grocery store clerk in high school and not the best job.....made a college education important. Long hours, stand on your feet, and people grip about the prices as if you had anything to do with it or could change them.....not much fun. No holidays and the day before Thanksgiving was the day from hell....only snow days matched the long lines.

I know what you mean about the griping. I worked for Abercrombie & Fitch for two years while I was at UGA, and some of the things people say and do to rip the retailers off is really pathetic. The day after Thanksgiving was the worst, line to the back walls of the stores and with all of those bodies pressed up against each other in somewhat limited space, it was stiffling.

Oh no! I was a grocery store clerk in high school and not the best job.....made a college education important. Long hours, stand on your feet, and people grip about the prices as if you had anything to do with it or could change them.....not much fun. No holidays and the day before Thanksgiving was the day from hell....only snow days matched the long lines.

I hear you. I guess because I always engage and have funn with my clerks, I think it would be like that for me all shift long!!! After standing for hours and playing that token game in the casino, I know breaks would be important to me!!!

In an earlier post on this thread, I said I'd find an article about living without goals. I found it. The article in Oprah was called, Are Your Goals Holding You Back, by Stephen Shapiro who is writing the book Goal-Free Living. Here are the reasons he gives for living without goals (They're a good "balance" to overemphasizing goals):

"Most people's goals aren't their own. They tend to be driven by society and family pressure."

"When you focus on goals, you put blinders on. You lose your peripheral visiona dn miss out on all the great opportunities around you.

You're always living for the fuure. You end up saying, 'I'll be happy when...' You sacrifice today in the hopes that something wonderful is going to happen tomorrow.

"You're courting faiure...you become attached to one outcome, but even if you get it, reality seldom matches the dream in all it's technicolor splendor."

"Goal free living isn't about being aimless... it's about being passion-driven in the moment, while knowing yu can change course. It's also about getting out, playing, and trying lots of new things." You can't find out what you love to do by sitting and thinking about it he says; you must experience it.

"Some people abuse goals as a way of escaping from being in the present. They distract themselvs by looking ahead."

"Trash the "If I don't succeed by Tuesday, I'm a loser mentality."

I thought these were very interesting and useful ideas.

Paula, I wish you had been one of my professors!

I enjoy most things about my job. I must because the pay in the horticulture field is not that good! I work at a native plant nursery that has a nationally known demonstration gardens associated with it.

Some of the points in Paula?s post hits home with me:
1. Having leeway to work on my own helps get jobs done more efficiently.
2. Good working relationships with fellow employees make the job much more funn.

I was fortunate enough to be able to pretty much ask for the schedule I wanted within reason. Of course, we?re not talking a high-paying carreer. But it allows me to stay in my field of interest and learn, while at the same time I can spend time with my daughter as she progresses through school and to volunteer. Since my husband travels a lot, we need flexibility. He gets a lot of vacation leave so if my job is flexible we can get out of town more.

I have called myself the ?trailing spouse? because we have moved so much with my husband?s position (promotions meant moves). Few regrets though - I have taught college, worked in statistics (planning & development), done silk-screen printing to raise money for natural area preservation, sold RE, done interiorscaping, worked in horticulture ..... Talk about a ?Jack of all Trades?! And this is not including the jobs I worked to get myself through college! I?ve almost done it all. :blink:

I've been considering going back to school to teach web/media at the college level, or possibly getting a realtor's license. (I wouldn't be one of those red-blazer go getter types, just casually practice it if I decide to go through with it. I love real estate, and it would jibe well with the music demands, but it seems that the last thing the world needs is another realtor. Teachers, on the other hand....)

OMG! Don't post this on the RE forum. :floor:


I have the feeling you could be very good at many things KB. 😀