14 July 2017

In a perfect world, anyone could be anything they wanted; they could earn a living doing a profession they were passionate about and not suffer without any of the basic needs or wants in life.

Unfortunately, our world is still far from perfect.

The big problem so many traditionally-minded people have is that they seem to think that a role, profession or career, or a title, defines someone. Then they think of the way they think someone in that “role” should behave. Then they really limit themselves in the way they think and behave.

The big problem I had when I went to journalism school is that it opened my eyes to so much corruption and I decided I didn’t want to be a part of mainstream media journalism. I thought I would just be a journalist part-time and let it be like a hobby to me. I thought I’d find a niche and just write occasionally for a magazine or something like that while I did my other full time work.

I went to university to train as an elementary school educator and I majored in English Literature.

The funny thing is that when I was going to school to be a teacher I couldn’t stop THINKING like a journalist!

Every class I went to was like absorbing information for an article.

Every insight I had congregated in my mind like an article waiting to be read.

Every day I wrote and wrote and wrote.

When it came time to graduate, I wasn’t 100% attached to the idea of becoming a traditional educator in a school system because I could see that the school system was not really ready for a journalistic-thinking educator. I could easily see that I would want to teach in out-of-the box ways which would challenge the status quo. I could see that I’d have to find the right school which met with my high standards for education.

All the while I kept having dreams which would guide me along.

When I became pregnant surprisingly in 2004 I decided to put my career on hold to be a mom. But I couldn’t stop thinking like a journalist, or an educator, and then a mom.

To this day, I have shunned mainstream media and am highly critical of the school system as it is and I will write more and more about this in time.

My challenge in the beginning part of my career was that I was trying to fit into a professional mold which didn’t allow for growth outside of a traditional model of thinking.

My challenge now, in the second phase of my career, is to really allow the journalistic part to take the lead and to be really okay with the educator part taking a step back.

This is the way life has unfolded for me.

And if I’ve learned anything I’ve learned it’s important to trust in the flow of life.

It never lets you down.