My flexible hours had been eliminated and taking the late train put me home at 6:45 p.m. every night. The company where I worked was going through a merger. I had worked for seven years at a stressful escrow job in the heart of Seattle, Washington.
This situation caused me to think about my passions and how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. At the urging of my supportive husband, I handed in my resignation at the end of 2010. My journey to incorporating a different kind of work into my life began. My family is very important to me and I wanted to carve out time to spend with them instead of having no option but to take time the allotted vacation times.
I renewed my teaching credentials. I had taught elementary school in earlier years and loved it. Raising two daughters alone, even with child support from my former husband, was too stressful because of the lack of income. Thankfully, I did have a career in business to help me through those child rearing years. Now that the children were grown, I was determined to make a change.
I love to write and began reviewing books that I had written 20 years prior that had been sitting in my notebook. This led to my current project of writing, publishing, and marketing a children's series on wellness topics.
My love for children and books led to volunteering as the National Literacy Ambassador for Xcellence, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting community growth by supporting small businesses and developing youth potential. My goal for this year is promoting our Read Out Loud Program to the Mercy Housing Network across America.
Focusing on my passions of teaching, writing, and helping others to learn to read better has revolutionized my life. I now have the flexibility to see my children more often. That is especially helpful since my two daughters and two grandchildren are now living near Austin, Texas, and I have to book flights to see them.
We all have the same amount of time to figure out how to live the best kind of life for ourselves. If you are in a situation that you would like to change, start by thinking about what steps will get you to the place you want to be. What will you do to advance the passions of your heart? It will be worth it.