Websites for Boomers and seniors are chock full of information recently on how we are all navigating a new normal -- working in our careers until we are in our 70s or finding new jobs to keep us busy as vital, contributing members in our communities.
Having relocated to a bigger house in a smaller community in 2014, I have not found it difficult to find employment. Kudos to local employers for respecting the skillset offered by a job candidate with a lengthy resume. The challenge for me has been finding a place where I fit and feel validated.
When I was a nonprofit Executive Director, at the conclusion of our annual fundraisers I would always ask the DJ to play "Who's That Lady?" by the Isley Brothers. It was a vibrant sendoff to our event guests. My personal, inside joke, was the song represented a self-congratulatory gesture for having pulled off another successful fundraising event. Mission accomplished for another year!
I've always liked the song, and considered it a female anthem to all of us career women juggling work, families, volunteerism and anything else life would throw our way. Now that I am well into life's 'second act', I am recognizing the solution to finding meaningful activities lies in the answer to the question, "Who's That Lady?"
I shot out of college and started my career path in an inner city school where I taught sixth grade. I spent twelve years teaching students marginalized by life circumstances -- from the inner city to the barrio, my natural role was to encourage and cultivate those students who struggled with natural limitations or those imposed upon them by life circumstances. After twelve years of teaching, I moved into educational administration until I realized the politics of public school systems frustrated me personally and limited by creativity.
I left education, and after a brief detour as a small business owner, I landed in nonprofit management which suited me nicely. I learned in nonprofit administration you could act on your creativity as long as you could find a funding source to pay for your ideas. Here my education background served me well as I designed programs, developed trainings, evaluated community services and traveled extensively to share ideas with international colleagues. It was a great twenty years. Importantly, the educator in me was always planning and strategizing how to improve life circumstances for disenfranchised students- - youngsters or adults.
When I stepped out of nonprofit leadership in 2014 in order to make a big life move with my husband, the question came back: "Who's That Lady?" I dabbled in some volunteer positions with mixed success; I tried one part-time job where it became apparent the setting was not for me. And then the inevitable happened: a teaching job appeared and I applied right away. I was hired quickly to teach adult learners marginalized by life circumstances.
I am three weeks into teaching, and as I look at my adult students, I can imagine who they were as youngsters. They were the students I taught when I first started -- striving, seeking validation and wanting to better themselves. These adults, however, have been knocked around by life and have made the adult decision to seek an education in order to better themselves. I want to say to each of them: "I know you"; "I know that look in your eye" as they nonverbally communicate a desire to better themselves.
This experience has taken my career journey full circle. I am right back where I started as a teacher and there are lessons for any Boomer wanting to find a validating work environment. Tap in to who you were in your twenties when your enthusiasm and natural instincts directed you toward your future. As a wise lecturer once said when encouraging the audience to find their life path: "Stop struggling!" And although you may occasionally get distracted, the answer to satisfying your life direction is right there inside of you.
Now when I hear "Who's That Lady?", I just feel the rhythm and smile. I know the answer.