Work, life and things in between – Day 54 – Before and beyond!
Change can be subtle. Before you know it, there is a before and beyond scenario in your everyday life.
The difference between coming home to an empty apartment once your children have gone and coming home to an empty apartment when one or all of them were still living with you but just gone for the night, is still tangible.
Now the first thing to hit me is the smell of the place. It smells like home but not quite the same. The aroma of my daughter’s life no longer lingers in the air. There is a stillness hard to describe.
What you leave behind is what you find when you return. Right down to the coffee mug ring on the counter top. Not that she was particularly one to clean up after me while I was gone but there was always evidence that life had gone on even while I was gone. No more so.
That morning I had a 9 am class with the Career Transition firm. I loved the walk to the office in the early morning. Walking to and back from the office had always been my dream.
I also wanted to travel the world….so there you go. You figure it out!
Once in class, we looked at our individual profile, strengths and areas of opportunities. I have completed several of those in my career. That one was quite comprehensive, and not geared towards a specific job.
Not surprisingly, but overwhelmingly, it confirmed that my interests, talent, needs are one and only one: Artistic. First and foremost in the literary fields and then musical in close second. Well, that is what it said. Not sure about the musical piece…as much as I like any form of music, I am grateful I did not have to make a living at it…would have been lean I think, unless of course, I was a diamond in the rough…one can always dream!
That was not a complete surprise. That was what my daughter was looking for when she asked me when did I stop being a Hippie? Somehow, she sensed that I had “changed course”.
Well, what to think of that profile? Hmm.. the obvious option was to be totally depressed and realize that I should have been the ballerina I always dreamed to be, but now it is too late.
The other option was to be thrilled because this means there is a whole new world ahead of me.
So! How does an HR executive articulate, in her professional arena (because I was aware that I would need to make a living at one point) her artistic self?
Hue…..
I guess this was my quest. That was the journey I was on. To day 55.