That Gratitude List: Item #1 is becoming a writer
Life Changes
Here it is the holiday season. And no one over-40 gets through it without work, the emotional kind, I mean. Ministers, spiritual coaches, and therapists worth their salt all tell us that work goes a lot easier if we start with a gratitude list. Yeah, really.
Well, that gratiude list really does trigger an internal paradigm shift – going from poor-me to lucky-me. At the top of the list I put something that I have been wrestling with since 1975. That’s my decision to become a writer.
Had I not made that decision I might have become a rich, powerful woman. After all I had the intelligence, stomach for risk-taking, and drive to take that great leap forward into investment banking or even being a security analyst.
But, it dawns on me more and more often as I age that writing has been the glue that held me together during the ups and downs of inheriting the family’s bi-polar gene. It’s rare in my family that anyone reaches the age I am. Something dark grabs them by the throat and they surrender, usually in the form of passive suicide.
I’m here. Without the ability to struggle hours, weeks, years, and decades with aligning thought and language and attract audiences to pay attention, I wouldn’t have had a reason to continue on. The mash-up of thinking and words/concepts is a shrewd beast I have managed to outsmart, at least so far. Others such as F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t last as long at it as I have.
So what am I doing with the life I still have? That’s item #2 on the gratitude list. I’m thankful my communications boutique is thriving. And for that I have my new kinds of clients to be grateful to. They gave me assignments in financial insolvency which were gifts from the gods in themselves since they involved client-bylined articles for brandname publications.
Also, those freelance jobs gave me the knowledge base to apply for similar work. Right now I am a regular blogger for a consulting firm which does turnarounds. In addition, what I learned about distressed companies has sharpened my ability to analyze all public companies. Recently, I became a freelance blogger for Motley Fool. My rundown on Kodak was picked up around the world, including Yahoo Finance.
Item # 3 on the gratitude list is that I have had my two feline companions for 16 years and counting. Jason is coal black and Carlotta is Havana Brown. Jason will be passing on within a year. But the three of us have that time together and …
I have finally gotten the hang of the power of now.
I wish each and every Single Girlfriend a centered holiday season.
About the Author
Jane Genova Has Written 24 Articles For Us!
I’m a coach, book author, and lecturer on careers, specializing in transitions. When I was 58, I restarted my professional life. That was in 2003. Since then I have I have muted into one of those renaissance folks who keeps multiple lines of work going. My latest book Over-50: How We Keep Working has helped thousands of people realize that exciting careers don’t depend on your age. I write four blogs: Jane Genova, Law and More, Career Transitions, Over-50.
Related Posts
-
Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms
Posted on Jan 1, 2013
-
Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms
Posted on Jan 1, 2013
-
Baby Boomers: New Families?
Posted on Nov 27, 2012
-
The Conversation Is Launched
Posted on Sep 20, 2012
Tags
Share This
Beautifully said! And trust me, being an analyst has limited rewards. Better to live a live that values creativity.
Here’s to a year of healthy cats and good writing!