I drove into Charlotte today and spent the day participating in a workshop given by a good friend of mine, Pam Slim. Pam is an excellent life coach, has a very popular blog Escape From Cubicle Nation http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/
and has also written a book with the same name. I worked with Pam in corporate america and she was instrumental in helping me see that I could move from the Information Technology world (even after spending 29 years there) into Human Resources where I worked for the last 2 years of my 31 years spent at Chevron.
Even though I escaped from "Cubicle Nation" in 2006, the entrepreneurial siren is calling me. There is more to do, I just know it. I have had a gift basket business and been a scrapbook consultant. I enjoyed each of those pursuits but neither of them was "it" for me. So I decided to join some like minded folks. Perhaps I could pick up some ideas and inspiration.
Even though I escaped from "Cubicle Nation" in 2006, the entrepreneurial siren is calling me. There is more to do, I just know it. I have had a gift basket business and been a scrapbook consultant. I enjoyed each of those pursuits but neither of them was "it" for me. So I decided to join some like minded folks. Perhaps I could pick up some ideas and inspiration.
It was a wonderful day, full of great ideas and people with positive attitudes and urges to become entrepreneurs. Very invigorating. The workshop was held at the McColl Innovation Institute, a beautiful old gothic church built in 1923 which now houses artist's studios and provides creativity and art classes to the public. A great venue for a wonderful, creative workshop. I came away from that workshop with a list of supportive friends and many ideas that need time to percolate.
The good news is that, even at 62 years old, I'm far from finished. I have at least 1, perhaps 2, more careers in me--just have to figure out what they are. As you can see in my list of things to do when I retire (previous post), there are many things I'm interested in. Pam's workshop will help me narrow the list down to one or two items that may be of use to others.
When I retired, I talked to my son a little bit about some of the things I wanted to do. He said, "Mom, why don't you just sit down in a chair?". What I know about that is that, retirement is very different for the baby boomers than it was for my mother's generation. No chairs for us because there is still so much to do and, in general, we are a vibrant lot. After all, aren't we the people who put jogging on the map in the 70's/80's?
When I ran the New York marathon in 1983, my mother could not understand why I was running around in "those skimpy shorts" instead of taking care of my family. "You are 36 years old", she said. "Time to settle down--really way past time to settle down." That kind of behavior was unheard of in her day. I tried to explain to her that I could run a marathon and take care of a family but she just shook her head. She didn't understand that I had a lot of living to do and that the context of motherhood/wifehood was changing.
I like this saying by Abe Lincoln: "It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years".
The good news is that, even at 62 years old, I'm far from finished. I have at least 1, perhaps 2, more careers in me--just have to figure out what they are. As you can see in my list of things to do when I retire (previous post), there are many things I'm interested in. Pam's workshop will help me narrow the list down to one or two items that may be of use to others.
When I retired, I talked to my son a little bit about some of the things I wanted to do. He said, "Mom, why don't you just sit down in a chair?". What I know about that is that, retirement is very different for the baby boomers than it was for my mother's generation. No chairs for us because there is still so much to do and, in general, we are a vibrant lot. After all, aren't we the people who put jogging on the map in the 70's/80's?
When I ran the New York marathon in 1983, my mother could not understand why I was running around in "those skimpy shorts" instead of taking care of my family. "You are 36 years old", she said. "Time to settle down--really way past time to settle down." That kind of behavior was unheard of in her day. I tried to explain to her that I could run a marathon and take care of a family but she just shook her head. She didn't understand that I had a lot of living to do and that the context of motherhood/wifehood was changing.
I like this saying by Abe Lincoln: "It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years".
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