How to answer your call in mid-life Written by Craig Nathanson
Hank Bochenski’s story proves it is never too late to walk away from a life you feel trapped in and do something that you really love. Hank spent 30 years in demanding senior positions at large high-tech companies. By time he went home each day, he felt like all blood had been drained out of him. Hank’s real passion was his collection of more than 1,000 movies. He had recently spent hours converting collection from VHS to DVD, a process he enjoyed. One day his wife walked by as he worked on this project and said, “It’s too bad you can’t make money doing this.” Before his wife’s offhand remark, he hadn’t considered that he could do this full time. He did some research and found a company called Home Video Studio Inc., in Indianapolis. HVS offers 21 services, including DVD transfers, DVD duplications, home movie transfers, photo-video keepsakes, sports scholarship videos and videotape repair. Hank and his wife did some due diligence and decided that this was a perfect opportunity for them and they went ahead and got into video duplication business. And to top it all off, Hank's studio is in his own home--no more 1.5-hour each way daily commute. What Happens in Mid-Life? Mid-life is a time of challenges and crossroads. Often we re-evaluate our relationships, become more concerned about our health or worry about whether we are as financially secure as we should be. The biggest challenges in mid-life often involve our careers, and more centrally, whether our careers are providing fulfillment we crave, or are simply exhausting us physically and emotionally. In mid-life, fulfillment and meaning begin to compete with paychecks and perks, and paycheck and perks usually win. Answering Call to Vocational Passion Before you can take action to change course of your life and pursue your vocational passion, it is critical to take an inventory of your life and what is really important. You must begin by understanding what is missing. You need to have a dream and a plan for achieving it. Start by making a list of things that are missing in your life. Is it a passion from your youth that you can never find time to pursue? Is it music, a sport, writing, cooking, activism, entrepreneurship, working with kids? It doesn’t matter, as long as it is something you long to do, and have enough passion to do it full time.
| | A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD RULEWritten by Terry L. Sumerlin
The pre-teen “cleaned up” real nice and looked good in his new haircut. In fact, I was plum proud of my work. But, he was totally under-whelmed. In an attempt to get a smile, I said, “You really don’t need to be quite so excited about this haircut.” His mom laughed, but he didn’t.After they left, another customer commented to effect that boy would likely have been happier about his haircut had it been his idea. “Probably so, I replied, “But apparently that was golden rule in action. Mom had gold. So she made rule.” After we enjoyed a laugh, I began to think more seriously regarding real meaning of golden rule. No question, in dealing with others, its value is as gold. Yet, few seem to really understand it, and even fewer apply it. However, both religious and non-religious have heard it: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Actually it’s a paraphrase of Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:12. But, religious considerations aside for present, what do words mean? For certain, principle involves something better than returning meanness for meanness, rudeness for rudeness or injury for injury. Yet, we somehow feel justified in personal or business relationships when we mistreat those who have mistreated us. In response to such, we might simply ask, “How’s that working for you?” Your response might be, “It sure doesn’t work as well as when I am nice to others.” Indeed! Yet, in light of such we sometimes misconstrue rule to mean that we should simply repay kindness with kindness. And, that’s certainly an improvement over rude for rude. However, it doesn’t require much of us. Most can be nice to those who are nice to them.
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