Lately I’ve been looking for work and have been unsuccessful. I know I need more education and certainly more experience. I’m going back to medical transcription for the time being, while I work my way through school and raising kids and surviving deployment.
This time last year I had it all going on. I was going to school (taking three classes), working part time, chauffering three kids all over Oceanside, doing Crossfit, and then selling Pampered Chef too.
My goal all along with Pampered Chef was to replace my income from medical transcription so I could be more flexible as husband was going to be deploying this fall and I was going to be going to school still.
Alas, there was a very personal and life-alerting event which derailed everything. I was forced to look at every aspect of my life and determine whether it was working for me or not. I felt the need to change nearly everything in my life. I evaluated my work, my friendships, my parenting style, my wifestyle, and more.
This has led to a less than stellar summer for me and our kids. Boring, uneventful, and without money to do anything fun.
Now, something has shifted. Something has changed. I’m willing and ready to go back to transcription and until that gets going again, I’m also going back to selling Pampered Chef. I really enjoyed it when I did it, I was just overwhelmed with school, work, kids and that too.
Now, I’m taking things one step at a time and learning that it’s okay to say I can’t do something, that I’m not capable of doing everything I want, it’s just impossible. I’m only one woman and I have to choose what’s important to me to get done and what isn’t.
Right now, working and making money are important to me. Oldest daughter is a senior in high school this year, which means it’s going to be a very expensive year. Raising teenagers is also a very expensive endeavor.
Anyway, since I haven’t found any answers to my life issues in the Twitterverse or comment sections of my Facebook page and those of my friends, I’m going back to doing real things…starting with The Pampered Chef.
I’ll continue to blog and seek out and be a freelance blogger and do web copywriting until I can get established. But I’ve determined that I am no good without employment. This has led me to think a lot about what a job and a career mean to the definition of who you are. I don’t think that your work defines you. I think that you should certainly enjoy your work, but the true secret of happiness is to have balance and enjoy the other areas of your life – to make them rich and fulfilling and meaningful.
I think of work as a means to an end. It gives you the means to enjoy and relish experiences with your family and friends, the ability to seek out what you really want, and gives your “off time,” your not working life, more meaning and enjoyment. What do you think? What do you think about your job or career? Does it define you or do you define it?
