Career Changes and Following God

 Oh my, it's been almost a year since the last time I posted on this blog (though I've been busy on one or two of my other blogs...).

I turned 65 in the summer of 2020 and since then have been thinking about changing my business path, seeing as I'm theoretically old enough to "retire" but would rather just make some changes to my business, Pen And Paper Mama Services. What changes? Why? Let's see...

For the past 10 plus years I've been doing mainly tutoring and editing, along with some other "pen and paper" type activities. My tutoring was initially working mostly with young students who were struggling with basic literacy issues and who had various learning differences and/or special needs. More recently, my tutoring has mostly been with middle school and secondary school students, still with LD/SN, but more in the form of "homework/assignment" help rather than helping them develop important academic skills and life skills that will help them become successful lifelong learners. And while the editing part of my business started out more with helping writers become self-directed, better writers, in the past while it's been more and more simply copyediting (line editing) and proofreading. As you can see, with both tutoring and editing, I've been moving away from being a helper and encourager to being a technical aide. And while I can do that fine, it's just not "me." And it doesn't line up very well with my own life goals and beliefs. So: what do I really want to do? What's really important to me? I've been making a list of thoughts about this. I dream of:

- writing from my personal journey and life passages, consistent with God's Word and my spiritual wrestlings
- being open to the Holy Spirit, Christ flowing through my giftings and talents and longing He has put within me
- co-writing with the Lord; defined by Him, not by people and systems and institutions
- discovering who I am, what are the most true things about me, in Him
- change, transition, journey with the Lord, eyes open to His doings; invigoration in relationship with Him
- figuring out if "my dreams" are really God's dreams for me, or just my own (selfish?) dreams? (intentional community, participating in family camps and retreats, being a "teaching Grandma," bus/RV living, helping at places like Esperanza, spontaneous road trips/travels, cohousing, volunteer in developing nations, help young women develop old-timey skills (canning, sewing, quilting, gardening, etc.) ... and beautiful, whimsical, adventurous dreams like having a cabin by a wild Pacific beach
- reach out with my writing and other skills to people who are seeking, searching, journeying
- flowing freely, like God's river, in my blog writing, emails, short writing, poetry, memoir writing, etc.
- dance and flow with my Pen and Paper; follow my heart; smile, be joyous (vs. "shoulding" and "duty" and "guilt")
- move beyond the usual systems and ruminations; seek "beyond me"
- write from my own experiences and viewpoints; freedom to use my own pathways, imagination, creativity; freedom from "the system" ... "We inherit creativity by virtue of being begotten by His Spirit."
- pick up writing with humour once again
- blogging on diverse topics, whatever I feel like ... I'm a "Jill of all trades!"
- my ideal audience: people searching, wondering, on pilgrimage journey, seeking truth, not content with pat answers, non status quo
- journeys of the heart, healing hearts and minds, stories from suffering?
- story and conversation; Community

In case you're curious about what this means in relation to my career path, I'm currently exploring potential changes and perspectives for my business, over at my blog https://normajhill.com/2022/02/22/thinking-ahead-1-coaching/