Re-Invention

I'm about to have to re-invent myself.  My wife and I are going to move, for a variety of reasons, and it looks as if I'm not going to be able to simply start over again doing what I've always done, which has been mostly teaching.  There are quite a few reasons that this is the case, including age, but I don't want to dwell on the reasons.  Rather, I feel that I need to focus on the changes that I can make in positive ways to earn a living doing something different with my time and my life, without resorting to taking just any extremely low-paying job that I can get, which would ensure us that we would eventually run out of money and have to scrape by on whatever we can get for the last years of our lives.

The thought is rather intimidating.  We're moving to an area where we haven't lived before, so we have no contacts and we don't know anyone there.  That means we won't have any local references, and we won't have any friends who can suggest jobs to us because they've heard that someone needs help.  Instead, we're going to have to make our own ways and do our best to find something suitable that we'll enjoy doing and that will help us to pay the bills.  There is a certain amount of risk inherent in a move like this.

And that's okay.  We're both willing to make this move because we both trust that life will take care of us.  We may face some difficult times and situations, but we don't expect to face impossible times and situations.  We're going to give it all that we have and trust that what is meant to be, will be.  And we may both end up finding work that is completely different than what we expected or than what we've done in the past, and that's okay, too.  One or both of us may end up working evenings for a while, and we'll deal with that when and if we have to.  No matter how things go, much of how our lives pan out after we move is up to us--up to the attitudes we have towards the move and whatever new jobs that we have, and up to the dynamics of the place that we move to.

We've done this before, but always with a job to look forward to.  We've always had some sort of income waiting for us when we arrived in a new place.  That won't be the case this time, though.  So we have to do the best we can to make sure that we find something that will help us to pay the rent and pay the bills, and hopefully put something away for retirement.

Our option, of course, is to stay where we are and continue doing what we've been doing for several years, even though there are several very strong reasons for moving.  When all is said and done, the reasons for moving outweigh the reasons for staying, so if we were to stay here, we would be doing so only because we hesitate to take a risk that we're sure will be worthwhile.  We don't want to stay where we are simply because we're afraid to take risks.  We know what the desired course of action is, and we're going to take it no matter how difficult or frightening it may seem.

Much of our decision to do this results from our constant decision to trust life, and to live our lives as fully as we can.  There are some important things missing from our lives where we live right now, and it seems quite obvious that something is missing.  We want to take the chance that finding another place to live will help us with those things, and we've put a lot of thought into where we might go that will help this to happen.  We know that if we stay where we are we'd be simply treading water when we'd prefer to be swimming--so hopefully we're heading to a swimming hole where we can move forward.

Taking such risks is not for everyone, and there's a part of me that would love to have been a person who lived in one place his whole life, but that boat has long since sailed.  We're doing what we think is the best for us right now, and we're not allowing the perceived risks to keep us from making a change that we think will be very positive.  And even though the change means that I'm probably going to have to re-invent myself and what I do to make a living, I'm looking forward to making the changes and seeing what kinds of new things life has to offer us.