The downside of having spent most of my working life in television is that I never developed skills that can be used in other professions.
See, I was 16 years old I packed my bags and left for the UK in the hope of getting into “showbiz”. I never finished school. And after two years of humiliating rejections, I finally succeeded in my quest. I was given a record deal and a job as an MTV Veejay (in that order).
The skills that I did learn along the way were the following:
Presenting/hosting TV shows
Writing and recording music
Interviewing people (I especially enjoyed asking questions that I was told not to ask)
Talking to large crowds (this included silly things like quickly finding out where the feedback was on stage, insanely fast costume changes, coming up with time fillers whilst the stage was being rebuild, talking my way out of little disasters like parts of the stage collapsing, etc.)
So does anyone have any suggestions as to where these skills can come in handy? Apart from going back to what I did before? I can’t think of what to do next.
See, Andy and I are at a point in our lives where we may face another “retirement” soon. This will be our second “retirement”, with the first being the time we left our old careers and settled in the Belizean jungle.
Soon Tom & Marge are joining us in our Jungle Dome venture (if all goes according to plan). And of course Karen is part of the resort’s management too, so there will be 5 of us running this place. Such a large team is not needed for a small resort, so Andy and I will need to find other passions again and maybe even consider new “careers”.
Andy already knows what he’ll be doing; he’ll be spending even more time on the computer. He loves being a Webmaster and has an incredibly talent for it.
I feel blinded by the millions of options that are out there. Shall I go back to school? If so, what would I like to study? What am I passionate about?
If I were to start a business online, Andy’s Webmaster skills would move my site up to the top ranks of the Search engines in no time. But what business, if any, would I like to have? I keep looking back at what I have done before and try to figure out if I can use my old skills for anything, but I keep drawing blanks.
It seems that I am not the only woman who faces this problem. According to Oprah Magazine, many women in their thirties share this confusion with me. They want to reinvent themselves, but are unsure of what direction to take next. They want a career, but don’t want to make big sacrifices when it comes to their family. Their career has to fit around their home life and not the other way round.
And that’s where I am at right now. Confused, but also excited by what may come next. I’ll just continue with my piano and music theory lessons for the time being (loving it!) & will keep looking for that flash of inspiration and direction.
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