How Being In Between Jobs Made Me A Better Person, Part 2

This is the 2nd installment in a 4-part series which outlines the opportunities I became aware of and, more importantly, began to act on during a recent period of professional transition. 

Opportunity #3  Time is of the essence ... be present when and where it matters.

It used to be that work trumped all other priorities. That’s what matters, right? If I don’t pay the bills then where will we be? Well, I was wrong. The real question I should have been asking myself all along was, “If I am not engaged as an active, positive presence in the lives of my wife and children then what am I working for?” 

Although my current state of flux entails a degree of uncertainty, it has enabled me to spend meaningful time with my family which before would have been relegated to weekends, holidays and vacations. Remember the joy on a three-year-old’s face as he jumps into a pile of leaves? I tended to miss a lot of those moments but now I realize that they are fleeting and priceless. A thousand hours of overtime will be forgotten almost immediately and, when you're gone, no one will say, "Remember Janet? She sure put in a lot of time at the office." On the other hand, these memories are the stuff of life and will be treasured forever.

Opportunity #4  Rediscover my passions ... and why did I stop in the first place?

I started taking drum lessons in the sixth grade and continued to play in church and local venues through my late teens. I loved to play - whether practicing or performing - and did so at every opportunity. Then I joined the Marine Corps and music became a part of my life which I considered to be a casualty of growing up. After the Marine Corps, I thought that I would earn my living as a fiction writer. Eventually, though, I had to acknowledge that I was writing less and working more until that became another aspect of life which seemed to be part of the price paid for entering adulthood.

Now that my schedule and priorities have been rebooted, I make time to play the drum set in the garage (grinning uncontrollable the entire time) and am rediscovering the joy of working to improve at something I love. Also, I am writing again (baby steps, admittedly) and the process of putting concepts and thoughts into words is incredibly fulfilling. Of course, the odds are slim that either of these activities will become my next vocation but incorporating them back into my daily routine costs me nothing and has made my life much richer.

To be continued - watch for subsequent posts and be sure to check out Part 1 in this series if you missed it.