12-01-2013, 01:07 PM
I've been lucky, I've had 3 very different careers and was/am deeply passionate about all three, but they all had to pay the bills too.
During college I was a prep cook and baker in a variety of restaurants ranging from a real dive with amazing bar food, to baking for an organic and natural foods coop, to a 3 Michelin stars restaurant where I really learned about the science of food, and especially the science of baking. Then, while raising my kids I took my last $100 dollars and stumbled into being a self employed crafts person selling my products at fairs and markets up and down the I-5 corridor for 25 years, and now, two degrees later, I teach middle school social studies in a charter school. All three fed my soul in different ways, all used completely different skill sets, and all really encourage a terrible tendency towards being a workaholic. I actually have retirement and insurance for the first time now, but each career has been the right thing for that point in my life. I had a great example because both my parents had challenging, rewarding careers that paid well, so the example I grew up with was that work doesn't have to be hateful drudgery, but that anything worthwhile required a deep level of effort and dedication to be good at. I also know people who are very happy to work strictly for a living and who save their passion for other areas of their life.
Knowing how to work both hard, and well, at whatever you do is probably the best skill for a rapidly changing economy, other skills can be taught, but not those.
Carol
During college I was a prep cook and baker in a variety of restaurants ranging from a real dive with amazing bar food, to baking for an organic and natural foods coop, to a 3 Michelin stars restaurant where I really learned about the science of food, and especially the science of baking. Then, while raising my kids I took my last $100 dollars and stumbled into being a self employed crafts person selling my products at fairs and markets up and down the I-5 corridor for 25 years, and now, two degrees later, I teach middle school social studies in a charter school. All three fed my soul in different ways, all used completely different skill sets, and all really encourage a terrible tendency towards being a workaholic. I actually have retirement and insurance for the first time now, but each career has been the right thing for that point in my life. I had a great example because both my parents had challenging, rewarding careers that paid well, so the example I grew up with was that work doesn't have to be hateful drudgery, but that anything worthwhile required a deep level of effort and dedication to be good at. I also know people who are very happy to work strictly for a living and who save their passion for other areas of their life.
Knowing how to work both hard, and well, at whatever you do is probably the best skill for a rapidly changing economy, other skills can be taught, but not those.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb