Once upon a time, my husband and I decided that the office life was killing me slowly and I needed to come home and "find myself" and my path. His career looked stable and I had contracts lined up to consult. Then the world changed.
From 2006 when I quit my steady job with the student assistants and the office and the door, things started to get funky in the economy. But I had taken a leap of faith. Things got leapy very quickly.
I guess with leaps of faith part of the gig is that you don't know where you are headed, you just have to trust that the direction will lead you where you need to go. That's much easier to say than do, as the last few years of my life can illustrate. Going a year without income from either Bill or myself was a huge test of our character and convictions. We learned a lot about the system and what happens when you are suddenly out of your tax bracket. We learned a lot about people in our lives- those who rose to the occasion and stuck it out with us and those who pulled away because it was too hard to witness the painful parts.
When I left my job at CSU Northridge coordinating student volunteers in non profits, I thought I would be a non profit consultant next in my life. My plan was to develop myself as a resource for organizations and as a grant writer. Three years later, my husband is hired as a grant writer. He's getting more calls for video game projects too. His career is back on track to be consistent and allow me to explore my own career path in 2010 as a mother of three with transportation issues.
My husband's non profit salary is not enough to allow me to completely slack off as I search for myself. But the benefits will help calm me down a lot. He has not had a consistent job in a long time. The stability of it is intoxicating to me. MMMMM....... Smells like the ability to plan ahead a little. YAY!
As for me, I'm still leaping along. My plan now is to keep talking and writing till someone pays to shut me up. I'm looking for paying work I can do from home that allows me to stay true to my ham and not compromise my own values. I'm also looking ahead at my youngest starting school next year with his sisters. That means I can make different choices then. YAY! And now I can plan for my path and see what happens.
Leaping along....... Bill starts his new job today and I start my quest for new life patterns.
Nikki
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I certainly can relate Nikki. I am in fact following a parallel course, not career-wise, but the leapy feeling of being unemployed for over a year and then getting ready to find my golden Corn over the beans of financial happiness which I have not tasted for so long. Good luck to us all!
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