Career Choices

A good friend of my husband’s came to visit with us recently.

He reminded us of the value of determining what is most important to yourself, and of keeping your word, especially with yourself.  You can read what I wrote while he was here by going to my Prosperity Challenge Blog.

My husband and I have been talking a lot about his visit in the past few weeks and the ideas it brought up for us.  We are scheduled to go to New Zealand for a month – both to visit family and take a vacation. 

That’s a long time.  I’ve NEVER taken a month off – especially for vacation!  And it’s been years since I was out of the country.  But it will be during February, our dreariest month – and we’ll be going to Summertime in NZ.

I told my dear hubby that I imagine it may be difficult for me to want to return to working in my office when we get back from vacation.  Not that I will ever stop “working”, I just prefer to work for myself since it’s the way I get to do what I want.

Since we are looking at all the options right now, I actually get to include “retirement” as one of them.  DH would be just as happy if I did retire now, even though he was the one who asked me to take a “steady” job working for someone else, which I have been doing for the past 3 years.

And if “retired”, I would probably just play for a year or so to get back into my own natural patterns and shake off the “corporate” structure that I’ve been working under.  For me that means spending a lot of time making glass beads and creating one-of-a-kind jewelry, with some time off to dye and paint fabrics!

Which brings me back to the subject here.  There’s nothing wrong with working for someone else.  There’s nothing wrong with working for security.  There is, however, definitely something wrong with working in a job that does not satisfy you – even if it used to. 

There is always a choice.  We live in a world that has mostly eliminated slavery.  If you don’t like a job, you can choose another.  If you don’t like the location, you can change it or choose another job in a better location.  If you don’t like the direction your work is taking you, you can quit, get another job, go back to school, start a business, “retire”, or even find a way to move your job back into the direction you started. 

The key is that you have a choice – and that’s where you become powerful – as long as you have a choice, you get to choose not only your ultimate outcomes, but also the steps along the way.  And you get to choose what you make of it all.  Your freedom and your choice are where your power lies. 

What are you choosing right now and how are you using that power?