Do you, (or did you,) enjoy your work?

[awakenedsoul]

Do you, (or did you,) enjoy your work? Tell us about it! We have a lot of interesting people on this forum who have worked in different fields. I notice many people on the early retirement forums are young people who are miserable in corporate situations. Some will even live in their car to get out of the workplace! My experience was very different.

I knew at age 2 that I wanted to be a dancer. I grew up glued to the t.v watching Shirley Temple movies. I was in awe of her! every Saturday night, I'd watch Lawrence Welk with my parents and wait for the tap dancer, Arthur Duncan. I'd try to follow his routines, dancing next to the television. I also loved the Yoga television series, "Lillia, Yoga, and You." I'd wake up early and watch her 6:00 a.m. show. I'd don a black leotard, get a chair, and follow her through the asanas. My family was still asleep. I was about six years old. My aunt used to take my mom and I to see Broadway shows. It was thrilling! My favorite was A Chorus Line. I knew when I saw that show that I had to get into musicals. I also loved watching the Rockettes on television.

I trained like crazy, and ended up achieving my dream. I tapped in shows and movies with Gregory Hines, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tommy Tune. Arthur Duncan, (my idol from Lawrence Welk's show,) was brought in as a replacement in My One and Only, and I worked with him three times. I got to perform in my favorite show, A Chorus Line, playing Maggie. We did it at the MGM Grand in Reno. I ended up touring with several Broadway shows, working with many incredible starts, seeing the United States, and spending three incredible years in Europe. I also got hired as a Rockette, and did their Christmas show. I took lots of classes and was blessed by Yogi Bhajan to teach Kundalini Yoga. That little yogi in me knew what she wanted.

My favorite subject in school was writing, and I ended up writing for Dancer, Backstage, and the Smithsonian Archives. (I didn't go to college. I was on tour at that age.)

What about you? In Kundalini Yoga they teach that Right work and Right relationship are the keys to happiness. I believe it. I'd like to hear about your career...

[CathyA]

Wow awakenedsoul..........that is so cool!!!

My story isn't as exciting. I was a secretary for the Anthropology department at a University after I graduated with a B.S. in Psyche. I met some very interesting people.

Then I became an EMT and worked in an emergency room, while I worked on getting my R.N. I loved working in the emergency room. I did it in part, to face my fear of seeing awful things.

I was an R.N. there for several years, then moved and worked at a large midwestern hospital in the Open Heart Surgery Recovery unit......which then became the Cardiovascular Critical Care Unit. It was very exciting.
And for several years, it was a great place to work, with all the other R.Ns being very supportive, and sharing all their knowledge.

I loved taking care of people, and helping them through really rough times. I also really liked explaining everything to the families of the patients, so they wouldn't be so afraid.
Herman Hesse wrote a book (forget which one), in which there was a person who would accompany people in a boat across the river at night. What it really was talking about, was death.
I always wanted to be the "guide". I got so much satisfaction and peace in being there for people who were hurt badly, recuperating, or even dying.

Then I quit work to have children and that job made me really happy too! :)

[Blackdog Lin]

What a great idea for a thread. I look forward to all the stories.....

I worked in High School and a few years afterward (early married years) in the printing industry, specifically as a typesetter (generic description; it was already in the late 70's going computerized). I liked it and felt I was good at it. I still love fonts.

But I wanted to make more money, and came to the brilliant conclusion that in small-town nowheresville, the FedGov was the only way to go. Was smart enough to get on with the USPS, and it wasn't too many years before I realized I had sold my soul to them and couldn't afford to get out.

But that was ok. There was much bad about the job, but it was always interesting, always challenging, and always well-paid (for nowheresville). I always said that I enjoyed MY job, the problem was that they were always making me do SOMEONE ELSE'S job, which I enjoyed.....not at all. If they had just let me stick to MY job, I probably wouldn't be an early-retiree.

So, a wash. Plenty of good to the job, plenty of bad.

[bae]

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. Then they cut down the space program considerably, and that was no longer a good option. I enjoyed the dream though, and it focused my interest in science, technology, and fitness.

OK then, high-energy physics. That lasted until a key component of the fusion reactor we were building at Princeton got dropped on the loading dock, and my thesis work was going to be pushed out ages. Plus I looked into the salaries of physicists, and got a shock. I enjoyed this work, it was challenging beyond most, and I got to work with world-class smart people.

So I sidestepped into statistics, electrical engineering, and computer science, as I had plenty of skills building the physics research equipment and evaluating the results. That was great, and springboarded me into a career inventing the Internet and retiring in my mid-30s. A fun time, most of the people I worked with were wonderful, and I love working on the cutting edge and inventing things.

Once I "retired", I went into public service, first mostly intellectually - working for affordable housing, doing environmental planning and community planning, and so on. Great stuff, loved it, still do a lot of it.

When I hit 50 though, I wanted to do something more hands-on. So now I am a 24x7 on-call firefighter/medical first responder, and was selected last year and am 2 weeks away from graduating from the technical rescue academy, which is like the Special Ops of the firefighting world. I love it, most fun I've ever had, I perhaps should have started doing this at 21. Heading to Peru in another couple months to teach some departments there vehicle extrication and rope rescue.

The only job I ever had that was not so enjoyable was the year I spent as a union electrician, doing construction work. Low man on the seniority list gets the horrid jobs.

Also, since I graduated from college, I've been involved in helping battered people protect themselves and escape from their pursuers, which in its own way is very satisfying though stressful.

[cdttmm]

My tenth grade English teacher called it. After we wrote essays about what we wanted to be when we grew up, she told me I should be a teacher. In my essay, I wrote that I wanted to be a dolphin trainer at Sea World. :D

Lo and behold, I first taught swimming lessons, then coached swimming (sort of like teaching), taught standardized test preparation for nearly 2 decades, and now I teach at the college level. My current job looks the most like traditional teaching, which is what I think my English teacher probably had in mind way back when. I have a side gig as a motivational speaker and professional development trainer, which is closer to my passion. And in June, if all goes as planned, I'll receive my black belt in Tae Kwon Do, which means I'll be able to officially teach classes in my TKD school, which is something I think I will really enjoy.

Along the way I've done lots of other things. I worked in a movie theater for a while, I was a research assistant to a now well known psychology researcher, I sold mountain bikes, I edited books, I ran a small business, I ran federally funded tutoring programs for a large company, I consulted on a few start ups, and I was the COO of an online newspaper.

Most of it I've enjoyed on some level. All of it has been a learning experience!!!

[ApatheticNoMore]

no (I guess I didn't mind working fast food part-time, but then I got a job I could support myself on). abolish work.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Back in the day, four score and I don't remember how many years ago - I liked waiting tables. My first season doing it was during a booming economy so the threat of being fired was not high and it was busy busy busy and I was making - for a fairly unskilled job (though a job that not everyone can do, trust me on this) pretty good money. In the interim period the business has changed and I guess I have too, to some degree. Now so many servers are mystery shopped and computer software exists that can easily track your performance over so many variables that you have little, if any, control over. The fun days in the biz are gone, that's for sure.

I would advise anyone going into serving today to save every penny and to expect any random day to be your last day as now it's so easy to be fired as a server. And what's crazy is that so many chains especially will fire for no real reason and spend all that money on training constantly....I've never figured that one out unless it is a huge tax write-off. Shudder. The nicest way to put it is that it is a hard job to sustain nowadays.

But back in the day, there was a stretch of time there that it was both lucrative and fun. Rob

[catherine]

I fell into what I'm doing by the grace of God. DH and I spent many very lean years, for various reasons. When he met me I worked at NBC in NY (30 Rock), and I LOVED it. It was so fast-paced and fun. But when I had kids I quit and was on the mommy track for many years, although I would try to supplement the family income with very assorted odd jobs, like stuffing soft sculpture, writing newsletters for Johnson & Johnson, and doing family daycare in my home.

I also had, for a time, a job as Communications Coordinator (Public relations) for our school district, which I also really liked, but when they cut the budget I was out.

So I got into temping and one gig brought me to a market research company as a word processor (I don't think they have those anymore. This was a job that filled the role between secretary/typist and people just doing Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc. by themselves. Management did not have keyboard skills in the 90s). Thanks to my Katharine Gibbs training after college, I was a very fast typist, so my job was to type up reports for market research analysts and managers. I found the work really interesting--and something I knew I could do just as well, if not better than they could, even though I had 0 experience.

I asked the president of the company if she would give me a position as an analyst--not expecting much because most new hires had MBAs or PhDs. But she knew I was a hard worker and not totally stupid, so she gave me an entry level position.

The reason I say this was a gift from God is because we were SO destitute at home. I remember my starting salary was $42,000 and I thought I had struck gold. I determined to double my salary in 5 years--I did it in two, and then I doubled it again over the next three years. From not even knowing what market research was when I was 46, I became a VP of research in my early fifties and then I left to start my own consultancy.

I really do love market research. It's so much fun to get information and put it together like a puzzle. It's so intellectually challenging, especially in my sector (healthcare) because you have to come up to speed on each product you test enough to be able to communicate with the doctor. I feel very, very lucky to have this job.

That's not to say I wouldn't also like to just switch gears at one point and do something different, more "noble." My Exit 9 food delivery business started off, but I have been unable to really do a lot with it because of my primary work. But I think I'm going to use it to experiment with local initiatives such as local food delivery, plus tool sharing, plus other community-building resources and use some kind of alternative economy for one part of it, just to experiment.

Overall, I really like to work, because in its ideal state, it's a pure source of creativity and service but I don't think I could ever go back to the 9-5 rat race (and who would want me now anyway?)

(The only job I HATED was right out of college. I was a "gal friday" for a wholesale florist in a warehouse in Bridgeport, CT. When driving to work, I used to stomp on my brakes if the light turned to yellow, just so I could delay getting there for another minute. I lasted the summer, and then went to Katharine Gibbs)

[catherine]

BTW, I have really, really enjoyed reading the posts of other people.

[goldensmom]

The work that I did for a paycheck, benefits and pension for 30 years I liked on occasion but cannot say I ever enjoyed it. The work I do now for free as a homekeeper, I absolutely, totally, without reservation enjoy.

[Tammy]

A year of secretarial work at a nonprofit

Full time mom for 8 years with some part time tutoring, music teaching, and babysitting

Then back to college for my degree -took 6 years cause I was part time still raising my kids

Then the last 17 years in nursing - primary care office, med surg inpatient, psych inpatient, community mental health nursing, jail nursing, then inpatient court ordered psych nursing -in that order.

I have enjoyed most aspects of everything I've done since 1980. And I've struggled with about 20% of every stage too. No situation is perfect. But I have great stories to tell.

[pinkytoe]

Coming from a very dysfunctional family situation, I have struggled for many years to figure out what I wanted to be/do. As my only obvious talent was art, I headed off in that direction and got an almost degree in Fine Arts followed by several years of painting before I realized I could not earn my keep with that endeavor. I tried what was then called commercial art and got a position creating logos and designs for advertising specialty items - yuck! Next a job as a retail manager at an interior design store. Time off for child rearing and dealing with sick relatives. Also had an antique business during this time selling at regional antiques shows. Decided I wanted the stability and perks of a state job and came to work for the university - slowly working my way up the admin chain in many interesting departments. I now realize that by nature I have what is referred to a service heart and find purpose when I am helping/serving others so that aspect of my job has been a good fit. The bureaucracy sucks. I have loved being around and helping students. In many ways, grad students are sometimes like kindergartners - they need a lot of guidance:) I have a ridiculous amount of autonomy with my current position and decent pay but I am salivating to retire in 1 1/2 years. Then I will do what I now love most - garden to my hearts content, devote time to volunteer conservation efforts and perhaps become entrepreneurial once again. I have deep regrets about not getting my education and having a professional career but didn't do too bad considering all the pitfalls. If I had a do over, I still don't know what I would choose.

[awakenedsoul]

Thanks for all the replies. It's fun to hear these stories and reflections. CathyA, I think your career was just as exciting. I got chills when I read about it. You write beautifully.

Everyone has different talents. Most of us feel happier and more fulfilled if we use our talents and creativity.

[Float On]

I've never had a career but some of my jobs I've enjoyed (I did not enjoy being a bank manager/loan officer). I worked in youth ministry/recreation ministry for several churches, coordinated and lead backpack trips on Colorado for youth groups, was a cave guide for two different caves, coordinated "winter trail" (recruiting trips) for a sports camp, managed our glass studio (loved the trade shows and art shows, working with the gallery owners, etc), currently I just work part time for our church so I'm available for the kids but they graduate next year so I'm thinking a lot about "what's next."

[KayLR]

I worked for 13 years at our local health department, loved it immensely until the last couple years; I was bored, but got a taste of public information work --my boss was laid off and her PIO position was eliminated. Decided to go back to school. Got my degree---have not found degree-related employment ever since.

Currently I do NOT like my job--many days, including today, usually Mondays--I hate it. I feel stuck as people oddly are not out there clamoring to hire 60 year-old women. So...trying to make the best of it until I can retire. It does pay well, but does not seem to be worth the sleepless nights.

I think back to my happiest time---when I was raising toddlers as a stay-at-home mom and volunteering at our local community education program teaching calligraphy. And raising goats and an organic garden.

[Florence]

I was a hospital pharmacist. I worked mostly in the operating room. The most challenging was the cardiovascular/transplant surgical area. I loved being prepared for anything and being part of that team. I am now retired and am very good at it!!

[Teacher Terry]

In my early years I was an office worker & hated it. Then when my youngest went to school I started college. I have been a social worker (very challenging) and then found a career I love providing vocational testing/career counseling to people with disabilities to help them get back to work. Working for the state was a challenge at times but now I have a pension. I now have my own business doing the same type of work & I teach p.t. at the university which I also love.

[awakenedsoul]

I think back to my happiest time---when I was raising toddlers as a stay-at-home mom and volunteering at our local community education program teaching calligraphy. And raising goats and an organic garden.

I hope you can get back to that, Kay. It sounds wonderful...

[gimmethesimplelife]

I worked for 13 years at our local health department, loved it immensely until the last couple years; I was bored, but got a taste of public information work --my boss was laid off and her PIO position was eliminated. Decided to go back to school. Got my degree---have not found degree-related employment ever since.

Currently I do NOT like my job--many days, including today, usually Mondays--I hate it. I feel stuck as people oddly are not out there clamoring to hire 60 year-old women. So...trying to make the best of it until I can retire. It does pay well, but does not seem to be worth the sleepless nights.

I think back to my happiest time---when I was raising toddlers as a stay-at-home mom and volunteering at our local community education program teaching calligraphy. And raising goats and an organic garden.Hi KayLR - just curious. Do you work for the county out your way? Years ago I applied for a position with country government in a dicey part of North Portland as a front desk representative and did not get it - small world indeed though if it was through the same employer you might be working for.....Rob

[KayLR]

Hi KayLR - just curious. Do you work for the county out your way? Years ago I applied for a position with country government in a dicey part of North Portland as a front desk representative and did not get it - small world indeed though if it was through the same employer you might be working for.....Rob

I worked for the county Rob...but in SW Washington.

[gimmethesimplelife]

I worked for the county Rob...but in SW Washington.Ah Ok....I worked for Multnomah County in the early to mid 90's in Property Taxation. Not the same county, though. Rob

[Lainey]

My current job is one I've had for almost 20 years, and is my best one. I work in the intersection of aviation and legal fields. Really like my bosses and my co-workers. I have a lot of autonomy - don't have to clock in or out - and don't have to supervise anyone. Am paid well and have great benefits. It's business casual dress every day, with jeans on Fridays.

Even with all that, I too will be glad to retire within the next few years. I went straight from college to full-time work (and worked part-time in college). My 5-week maternity leave 30 years ago was the longest time I've had off in a row since I started first grade in 1960. So 55 years of full-time school or work is enough!

[awakenedsoul]

Wow! That's a long time, Lainey! I'm impressed.

[Gardenarian]

As I've said other places, being a librarian has been a rewarding career. But libraries are changing and I'm changing; I'm ready for retirement.

[early morning]

I started working at a Jewish county club when I was 16, as the evening/weekend receptionist, and left 25 yrs later as the assistant office manager/accounts receivable manager. I liked it, but the business was changing and becoming less important to our members (other clubs had opened up to our members as society became less prejudiced) so for my last 7 or so years there I was also raising our kids and going back to college part time. I got my teaching degree shortly after I quit the Club, and have been teaching ever since. I spent a year in a traditional high school, which I hated, and then got a long-term sub gig at a Joint Vocational High School, and discovered that I really enjoyed working with "those" kids - the ones who were in and out of trouble, struggled with academics, and were very unmotivated in general. From there I fell into teaching social studies at a juvenile detention center, where I've been for 14 years. I went back to school and got a masters in special education, and am now the special ed coordinator for the three schools run by our Juvenile Court. AND I still get to teach a class of social studies most days! It's very challenging off and on, and sometimes heartbreaking, but always rewarding. I love my job!

[awakenedsoul]

That's great! I love hearing about people who are enthusiastic about their careers. Yours is a special talent.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Even with all that, I too will be glad to retire within the next few years. I went straight from college to full-time work (and worked part-time in college). My 5-week maternity leave 30 years ago was the longest time I've had off in a row since I started first grade in 1960. So 55 years of full-time school or work is enough!

woah. I've been lucky enough to have periods of unemployment (usually just 5-6 months), I can't imagine :).

[Yarrow]

I was/am a musician and enjoyed it immensely. I play several different instruments and worked with a few different bands back in the day. I sang too, mostly back-up.

I still love music, but MS makes it nearly impossible for me to perform these days.

[reader99]

My youthful ambition was to spend all my time with my boyfriend. In another place and time I might have been a high-end courtesan. I got a degree in History with emphasis on Medieval and Tudor England. While in school I worked as a waitress and inventory taker. When I graduated the local unemployment rate was 24% (1976 in the Rust Belt). The part time chambermaid job I got wasn't enough to live on and then temp work wasn't reliable enough so I went to paralegal school, Estates, Trusts and Wills. I like the subject but don't have the personality to blend in in a law firm, plus after the first year it got to be the same old same old.

I moved to Texas and got a very well paid (by my standards) job rebuilding jet engines. I liked it but the aircraft industry is cyclical and I got laid off. So I got married and became a full time step mother. After a while I went to work in customer service for the subsidiary of AT&T that handled all the stock related stuff that arose from Divestiture. I enjoyed helping people understand and manage their stock. After a few years I got bored and applied for in-house programmer training. I loved programming but my health gave out and I was unable to work for several years.

After a while I started working in my husband's vending business, both the administrative stuff and servicing and repairing machines. That was okay but I soon tired of it. Then I sold wigs, and other stuff on eBay for a few years. A couple other short term jobs, companion, self-storage relief manager, blah, blah. (My complete job history is 20+ jobs). Production control clerk I didn't like because of the toxic corporate culture, it was like working on a pirate ship. Purchasing clerk was kind of fun, but I left that job to care for my husband through terminal cancer. Lately I rent rooms on Airbnb, which is interesting, and am surprised I actively enjoy paid-to-click and crowd-sourcing work at home. I spent two years part time writing my book. That was nearly as rewarding - and challenging - as parenting was.

Sadly, courtesan work is rather like pro athletics, one ages out, so it won't work for me as a retirement job.

[Lainey]

. . . Sadly, courtesan work is rather like pro athletics, one ages out, so it won't work for me as a retirement job.

you are too funny!

that's an amazing string of jobs. I think I've had about 4 main jobs in 33+ years. I never stopped to think that's probably way less than average, especially these days.

[Kestrel]

Other than a brief three-month stint in a jewelry store, all of my jobs have been with a branch of "the government" at some level. School district recreation department (recreation leader). University business office (clerical support). County Fair (office manager). Two different US Forest Service Headquarters offices (public information). County Probation Dept (clerical support). Except for the jewelry store I absolutely loved loved loved every one of my jobs. The Forest Service, especially ... love the agency and the people I worked with. I never made a lot of money -- they weren't careers -- but I didn't care. I just loved what I was doing. (DH worked for the FS as well and it was "family" .)

Edited because I was looking for a "love heart" and didn't see one. Drat.

[mamalatte]

I really enjoy my work as a lawyer. I think I may have posted about it before, but I work in a very specialized/unusual practice where I represent whistleblowers who are reporting a fraud on the government, usually the federal government. We work to get the dollars that have been defrauded from the taxpayers returned to the U.S. Treasury, and if we are successful, our client the whistleblower gets a reward which is a percentage of the amount returned to the government. I have been doing this since 1997, working both as a government lawyer and in a small private firm. The cases and clients are very interesting and I find the entire field to be fascinating so I love keeping up on the latest. The biggest frauds are committed by--you guessed it--big corporations, and they have the money to pay very expensive and high quality lawyers so they are tough adversaries and I enjoy that level of legal combat and the David and Goliath aspect of it all. I also have a great working relationship with my boss and a lot of flexibility and autonomy in how and when I work.

[CathyA]

Wow! So many great stories!! We have a lot of really neat people here!

[awakenedsoul]

I agree, CathyA. mamalatte, It sounds like you are fulfilling your destiny. It's encouraging to hear that some people are in healthy, exciting work situations.

[ToomuchStuff]

I've been trying to figure out how to answer this. I do not enjoy my work. I have learned to find things in work that I enjoy. (namely some of the people I have met and the stories) There is a difference and I think one must learn to do this in any job.
Things I would do and enjoy, when I came home, have been jobs, as employment opportunities came up, but I ended up dreading them (work won't quit and one needs free time away from it). I find it fascinating how some people seem to find the balance of what they love, not being work.
I also think part of it may be some of what I have observed. I never went for a "career", in part due to lack of college (a hospice stint with a family member was the end of that), and in part, due to thinking I would never live to be past 30 (just didn't know by whose hand I would die). I remembered reading some stuff my grandfather wrote (notes effectively) and some talks with grandmother. He had many jobs over the years, from running his own business a couple of times (one destroyed by fire, another I think WWII put a stop to), to various other jobs (mechanic, funeral business, fiberglass), and putting money away. Seeing my father in a career, that eventually started letting people go (he survived three cuts, then some higher ups found him a different position to keep him) and those who came out miserable in the end, I am still not sure I get a "career".

[awakenedsoul]

Is sounds like the parents are such an influence on our career choices. (Whether it's conscious or unconscious.)

[mamalatte]

Although I do very much enjoy my job, it is not something I have loved since being 2 years old, like the story with which awakenedsoul started this thread. I don't really have one thing I LOVE like that and always have been sort of envious of people who do have something like that. I am also always on the look-out whether my kids seem to have a love of that sort, because I would want to foster it. They are currently 10 and 7 and although they have things they like a lot, I do not yet see one single thing either of them just loves the way awakenedsoul was describing dancing.

For me, I think my closest thing would be dogs. I recently saw a PBS show on canine assistance dogs and the woman who started a school for the dogs and thought that would be so incredible to have a career/vocation that involves both dogs and helping people.

[reader99]

I think that not everyone has a passion, nor a capital V vocation. I don't recall ever feeling strongly that I wanted to be this or do that. I worked because I had to have money, and once I got interested in a job I did it as well as I could, but nothing has felt like a career or a deep inner satisfaction. It could be that the arts evoke more passion in a person because they are so creative.

[catherine]

The cases and clients are very interesting and I find the entire field to be fascinating so I love keeping up on the latest. The biggest frauds are committed by--you guessed it--big corporations, and they have the money to pay very expensive and high quality lawyers so they are tough adversaries and I enjoy that level of legal combat and the David and Goliath aspect of it all.

You're my hero! Cool job, mamalatte!

[awakenedsoul]

It could be that the arts evoke more passion in a person because they are so creative.

I think that's true. It's like a calling. Also, the the people you work with often feel like your "tribe". There's a lineage from teacher to student. It usually feels like something you have done before, and you're just relearning it. I see this in Olympic athletes, too. It just seems like their destiny. It's an intense, focused path.

I'm finding the same thing with the music. It takes a lot of dedication and practice, but the rewards are thrilling. Classical musicians really fixate on their work. Many of the artists I know choose not to marry or have children.

[zcsimmons]

It is funny that every job that I have held I have enjoyed. Be it custodial, maintenance, IT, fast food, or retail. While they all had their ups and downs, there was always something that I found full filling.

[awakenedsoul]

That's great, zcsimmons. It sounds like you've got a positive attitude and that you're good with people. It sure makes a difference in how you feel when you get up in the morning if you enjoy your work!
p.s. Welcome!

[Tussiemussies]

I used to practice Kundalini yoga also!!!

[TxZen]

I have worked in healthcare, administrative side, since I was 16, with a veer through the military. I enjoyed it up until about 5 years ago, when it became apparent that I was running out of steam, quickly. I stuck it out because I kept moving up. I realized yes, you can be great at your job and still hate it. I lost my passion for it. It became to automated for me, less creative. I realized I enjoy talking to people and moving around. So now I am revamping my whole entire life, at almost 40, to start a new passion. I am excited to see where this path takes me.

[awakenedsoul]

That sounds exciting, GreenMama. Let us know what you end up doing. I know you mentioned you were considering teaching. It's so important to feel passionate about your work. I LOVED my work, and still enjoy auditioning, whether I get hired or not. It's so exciting and rewarding. I love the people and the creativity...

[Spartana]

Was in the Coast Guard many years (and continued in the Reserves after I got out) doing law enforcement, search and rescue and all that cool CG stuff and absolutely loved it. Then worked as an Environmental Compliance Officer for a government agency afterwards for many years and loved that (although not as much as the CG). Now retired early and love that the best :-)! As a kid/teenager I did all those teen type jobs - fast food, retail, etc... - but also worked as a "waver" at a restaurant (dressed as a chef and stood on the street corner waving people in) when I was around 13. Later, at around age 16 to 18, I worked at a motorcycle shop after school and at a motorcycle park (a huge place - thousands of acres - to ride and race dirt bikes) on weekends as Park Patrol. Basicly rode around on my little dirt bike making sure people were behaving properly or helping injured riders. Fun!