I'm a very superstitious person. Not like the number 13 or broken mirrors or anything, I just don't like to draw attention to my successes for fear they will get sabotaged by fate. I especially hate to mention future plans out loud for fear they will not come true. Warding off the evil eye, or really any divine or other-worldly attention has always seemed like a really good idea. That is why I mostly write on this blog about projects, events, etc. once they are over and could not be changed by unwanted attention. This has the advantage that I don't have to write about my failures. But then again what if you, my readers, could help me achieve my dreams, with your positive thoughts or possibly your connections?
Back in 2005 I gave up the idea of making my living doing something related to history, and decided history would just be a hobby for a while. That has been fun, I've grown and learned, but I'm pretty ready to put history on the front page again. I'm rather at an in-between place in my life right now. There are a million different directions I could head, and a million I would like to, but I've also got a recent failure making me reluctant to jump feet first into something big in case it is more than I can handle.
No matter what the economists say, this recession is not over for non-profits, and definitely not for non-profits that are not direct-service related like historical sites. While I am looking for museum jobs, or otherwise history-related jobs, I can't hold my breath hoping I'll snag the perfect opening. Stephen and I have started businesses and projects that we had hoped would turn into careers, but none of them have worked out quite that way. What about going back to school? There are tons of master's degrees out there for people like me. Educators interested in history are pretty much expected to have master's degrees. But would it benefit me to spend gobs of money for three years, and then be back out looking for my career again?
Maybe I should stay on the corporate path until Stephen and I can afford our farm, and then we'll invite all the LH folks we can find to join us, and we'll create our own history.
Any advice? Anyone know who we can pitch a reality TV show to?
Sunday, April 8, 2012
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Your last paragraph is precisely what Sarah and I are doing. Sarah is climbing the corporate ladder while I'm staying put in my job so our daughter get the best education we can give her. Neither of us are entertaining thoughts of running our own blacksmithing business anymore.
ReplyDeleteIn the end we hope to have stock piled enough money to retire and open an Ancient/Historic Skills and Arts training center. But we're not going to try to do it while we'd need to make a living from it. We've learned from our attempts running a blacksmithing business 2 things. First, the time spent running the *business* was greater than the time actually doing blacksmithing. Second, that fact sucks all the fun and energy out of doing what you love.