Right Livelihood

I struggled a lot with the question of what to do with my life. Somehow, nothing ever seemed quite right. Nothing ever seemed like quite enough. I went back to school and got another degree; my career still wasn't quite right. Finally, I stopped trying. I stopped seeking the elusive important, fulfilling, and meaningful career. (I decided to spend some time pursuing the less elusive important, fulfilling, and meaningful career of parenthood.)

Eventually, I started contemplating how I could augment the household income. I would get an idea, I would contemplate it. If it seemed feasible, I would start thinking through details. Eventually, I always ended up somewhere I didn't want to be. That “somewhere I didn't want to be” generally was some variation on high child care costs (low real net income) and the realization that I really wanted to be with my kids. And I didn't want to be inputting medical record data or running a multi-level sales scheme when my kids were crying because they wanted my attention.

I used to say that I didn't like to read and I didn't like to write. I finally realized that I didn't like reading academic journals and I didn't like writing research papers. I've always written in journals, but somehow that didn't feel like real writing. Writing about my life and experience is easy; it's fun. It's not real work. It hadn't occurred to me that people might like to read what I write. It's just my life after all. Wasn't it rather egocentric of me to think anyone else cared?

A friend of mine had a friend who was starting a writer's group. There are a couple of books I've written parts of (essays about my life), so I thought I would check it out. I eventually realized that, even before I complete a book, it would be useful to start getting things published in magazines.

Then it clicked: The type of writing that I like to do, the fun, easy, sometimes humorous writing that I like to do, is well-suited to magazine articles.

I started flipping through magazines and got lots of ideas for articles I could write that would fit right in. I got a copy of Writer's Market and saw that some periodicals pay decent money for articles. I started learning how to prepare articles for submission.

I was thinking that this could be a workable way to supplement the family income while the kids are small, but I then realized it's more than that. I realized that I had stumbled upon the important, meaningful, and fulfilling career I had been seeking for so long.

If I write about my life in a readable and humorous way, people might feel less alone and frustrated in their lives. If I write about causes that are important to me in a readable and humorous way, I might inspire other to act. I will change the world, one article at a time. What could be more important, fulfilling, and meaningful than that?

The pen is mightier than the sword.

George W. Bush's First Baby Shoes

(This was a writing exercise where I had fifteen minutes to come up with something about the two slips of paper I had drawn: “George W. Bush's first baby shoes” and “A Rusty Lawn Chair”.)

Here I sit in my favorite lawn chair, caressing my son's first baby shoes. I have so many memories of sitting in this chair, rocking him on warm summer evenings. Of course, this chair wasn't old and rusty then. But the baby shoes weren't worn either.

My little baby has just left for college. What will become of him? Not the most motivated fellow. Hopefully, he'll make some friends at Yale who are a good influence on him. Hopefully he won't just party all of the time. It's important to have friends and to enjoy life, but sometimes I worry that he's not willing to buckle down and do what needs to be done to have something behind that pleasant facade of his.

What will become of him? Not the brightest bulb. Oh, I know I shouldn't say that about my own son, but I've had eighteen years to face this reality.

Hopefully, he will make some good connections at Yale. Maybe he'll make friends who will go on to be successful and will hire him as an aide. I'd always hoped for more, but I really don't think I can expect anything else of him.