I pulled up my old blog after a twitter conversation today and want to reflect on where I am now.
The short answer is that I've built a very different life then I ever imagined for myself. I've left science behind and become an expert at configuring a business operations and project management system called Workfront, and have a nice career at a small consulting shop where I'm recognized for my problem solving capabilities. I've spoken at a technical conference and hope to do again in the future.
I work from home most of the time and get to travel and visit client sites semi-regularly. I've had to adapt to some health issues that arose from all of the stress of the hospice situation. I can't work 80 hour weeks, and I really don't want to anymore. I try hard to turn work off at the end of the day and have some semblance of work/life balance.
To stay in touch with my love of education, I tutor a few students in Math and Chemistry. I love it and my students are successful. I may eventually work on shifting the balance to more tutoring and less consulting, but there is a world of difference in the pay. I've never been graced with children, but am working on some emotional and housing issues to be at the point where we can bring older foster children into our home.
Through this all I've learned that I can be happy as a regular fish in a small pond. I don't have to be the best, the most anything, to be successful. 99.9+% of those that shoot for greatness fail. It's alright to be itty-bitty. Hollywood is a horrible template for life. Most tragedies play out in slow motion, most melodrama can be avoided with a change in attitude, and even when shit happens, most of us have to go on and rebuild their lives.
Maybe I'm no longer in the fast lane. But this country by-way feels pretty good. Yes we need on-ramps back into the fast lane of careers, but we also need to slow down and accept that there are many faces of success.
