Risk Taking & the Willingness to Adapt 9/26/05

I was asked to write this as part of a collaborative project a few of years ago. I am not sure whatever became of the project, but here is my contribution.



Risk Taking and the Willingness to Adapt

I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. I was a Girl Scout. We were supposed to throw out all the stereo types of our mother’s era and take on the man’s world. We could be anything we wanted to be. I wanted to be an astronaut. Never mind that I got car sick if I sat in the way back of the family station wagon. I knew that you had to get good grades in math and science, no problem, school was my thing. One Thanksgiving my family took a trip to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. There I saw the Apollo capsule. I was fascinated, but the combination of claustrophobia and motion sickness, pretty much made that dream start to fade. Besides, there were so many other fascinating careers to consider.

Since then I have switched gears, revised plans, changed jobs, and dreamt new dreams many times. Life provides us with many opportunities, commonly known as problems, which require us to change. We can either adapt, and thrive, or shrink and whither. When I make the list of all the positions I have held, and things I have tried, I start to feel a bit like Hemmingway, minus the bull fighting. Maybe by the time I am 40 I will have experienced enough to write a great novel!

The role of mother is the most rewarding, and requires the most effort. When our first child was born we were both working full time. This is when the creative scheduling began. I left the security of my 8-5 office job and embarked on a new career in sales. My schedule was less rigid, and the office was close to home. My husband worked the night shift, so one of us was always with our son. That first year no one got any sleep, except the baby. I would have loved a book titled, “Dress for Success While Breastfeeding”, not that I would have had any free time to read it. It was challenging, but the bills were paid, and our family was together.

Several years ago we packed up our family and relocated to another state. Upon arrival, we learned that our new jobs weren’t going to work out, and our temporary living arrangements were very temporary. The first job that came my way required that I have an automobile sales person license. I would be doing many other things besides selling cars, but part of the job required the license. So, I got the book, learned the stuff, passed the test and took the job. I never sold a car, but I did get to drive several restored classics on the auction block. The job was only slightly less temporary than the living arrangements, but the knowledge I gained sure came in handy the next time we purchased a car!

As a kid that loved school, I never thought I would ever home school my children. When we built our home in a remote, but quickly growing small town, I did just that. The schools were so crowded – more than 40 in a classroom in elementary school. The bus ride was so long that the kids needed to stop for lunch and a potty break, not that they could, but boy did they need to! The final straw was when my 5th grader didn’t know his times tables so I scheduled a meeting with the teacher. When I asked just how far behind my child was in math, and what could be done to get back on track, she answered that he was one of the best performing students in the class and in fact his grade was a high B! That was the moment of decision. I was going to become their full-time teacher as well as Mom.

We home schooled for two years. We hit the math books hard, and got both of them back on track. It was fun, and we all learned a lot those two years. They learned many things about running a small business and how to multi-task. I relearned how to divide fractions and buy text books on e-bay. When they went back to traditional school it was with a new attitude and a greater appreciation for the learning process.

When I keep focused on my core beliefs, God and Family, everything else falls in line. It is rarely easy, and I am chronically tired. We have found that the flexibility of being self-employed works well for our family. Firmly plant yourself in your priorities, and then be willing to enthusiastically embrace whatever opportunities come your way.