Figuring out what to do with the rest of my life…

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the second half of my life. (image via)

Like Chris Corrigan, I ask myself these questions:

 

• Who am I in the world, and who do I want to be? 
• What purpose burns in me? 
• What good do I create, and what legacy do I leave behind? 
• What do I offer to others, and what invitation do I create for others to join me? 
• Who do I work with and what do we offer one another in partnership and collaboration? 
• What am I inviting people to do with their work and lives? 
• How do I support intention and the profound needs of people who want to make a difference with their work?

I recently shifted my career in a different direction: a teacher of high school English became a teacher of educational technology. That has been an invigorating challenge, but now I'm thinking: what creative project can I work on in my "off hours"? Yes, I've published some of my writing.  Yes, I've spoken at international conferences. Yes, I've earned my Masters of Arts degree.

 

But, I am more than these things, and I'm more than a teacher.

I am a drummer, a gardener, a painter, a thinker, a conversationalist, a poet, a supporter of the arts, a world traveler, a singer, a chef, an artist, a dancer, a public speaker, a photographer, a writer, and a gypsy.  

 

THESE are the things that define me. What I do in my "off hours" define me more than my career.

Over at “Lifestylism”:

 

Jeremy asks all kinds of questions about finding his life's path.

He has the credentials and knack for helping people find out what they do well, but perhaps it's harder to apply that thinking to ourselves. And just because we're good at something doesn't mean we should pursue only that:

 

"I could spend the rest of my life working with those people I meet...I could even make some kind of consulting/coaching practice out of it. But should I? Just because people invite me to do it -- does than mean I ought to?"

 

Penelope has an interesting post along similar lines last week called Try being a dilettante before changing careers. Read the whole thing, but here's the conclusion:

 

"Change in one’s life does not require a career change. In fact, a career change should be last. After lots of experimenting with small steps in an effort to find out who you really are. That’s how I found out, again, that I’m a writer."

Last night, Catherine and I had a long talk about whether or not creating art serves the world. Of course it serves the world, but as teachers, we see our careers as a way of giving back to the world. As artists, we wonder: what would happen if we DIDN'T teach? What if we became, once again, full time artists? Is that less noble that teaching future generations?

 

Someone once said, "We are the same people we were last year at this time, except for the books we've read, the places we've traveled, and the people we've met." I'd add "and the films we've seen." The arts are one of the ways to influence the world, yet there's an undercurrent in the professional world of "selfishness" connected to pursuing the arts (music, drawing, dance, etc...) that our society doesn't support.

 

So many parents of my students want their talented, artistically-gifted children to get their MBA degrees, not degrees in the arts or humanities.

 

And here I am, at a crossroads, wondering if the pursuit of the Arts is a valid endeavour for the second half of my life.

 

 

 

Comments

[Princess Haiku]

Sometimes life decides what it will do with us, and how we react is life art form.

[shamash]

Thanks, Princess Haiku, for the reminder to surrender to the process of life. I needed to hear this! I'm reminded of the adage: "It's not important what happens to you; it's how you respond to what happens to you."

[Camille Crawford]

Hi Shamash,

I realize this post has come and gone a while for you, but I'm a little slow in keeping up. I note also that I've recently discovered your site and I'm so glad. You are an interesting woman whose lived her life in a similar vein to the one I have.
I've been trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life for... about the whole time I've been alive! LOL. But more specifically, this last year or so. I've finally come to a place where I think 'we ourselves' have to decide what we think is important for us to give to the world. At least that has been my way of coping with this question. I too have a plethora of skills and talents and I've decided what's best is to use what I have in a way that makes me feel good. Selfish perhaps? I don't know, but there doesn't seem to be any answers 'out there'. Learning to listen to my inner voice of wisdom has been the training that I hope to pass on, indirectly, through my words and actions in the future I have left here in this awesome world.
And by the way, you posted this on April 11, 2007, the day I turned 44 :)
Kind regards,
Camille