This Week In (my) History

Are there weeks in your personal history that have significance?  This week is one for me.  28 years ago, this week, I started my first job as a copier field technician.  It was the start of my second career which has taken up the majority of my adult life.

This is not what I had planned in college.  I was planning on being a teacher and maybe a writer.  Then money ran out, I did not make it into the education program at UC Santa Cruz, and job opportunity arose (in my first career in audio/visual).  One thing led to another and I found that I was able to use my talents in fixing things to make a living.  In the meantime, I have also been able to teach and lead children and youth in church and write as a hobby.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I had decided to switch to San Jose State and gotten my teaching credentials.  I honestly don’t know.  Would I have been a good teacher?  Would I have enjoyed it? 

All those questions are, of course, moot now.  I have had many “woulda, coulda, shoulda” moments through my life.  I can’t change those, and regret would only put a cloud over my life.  Instead I choose to look to the future.  I intend to pursue a career in writing while maintaining excellence in my current career.  Instead of dwelling on the missed opportunities of the past, I will reach for the opportunities out there in the future.

Where are you in your history?  Are you living in regret over past decisions?  Are there goals that you still want to strive for?  Let me encourage you to reach for the stars.  The sky is not the limit.  After all, we’ve already sent people to the moon (thanks Adam Young for that thought).  Think beyond the possible to the miraculous and you might be surprised what will happen.

Speaking of the impossible, I did manage to complete the revision of the already done first two-thirds of Wil Clarey: School of Hard Knocks.  I am excited to be able to move on to complete that book during NaNoWriMo in November.  I encourage all you writers out there to join in and work on your next great novel!  Let me know how it is going.