Your Life Calling

Your Life Calling

As faithful readers of my blog know, I'm really trying to figure
out a post child raising life that centers on the things I put on the
back burner in my parenting years: grad school, activism and
solidarity, and becoming a published writer. I feel like people about
to set off on the Oregon Trail did back in the day. I'm talking
unchartered territory. So when I saw Jane Pauley's Your Life Calling:
Reimagining the Rest of Your Life in the Orono Public Library new book
section I was some excited, let me tell you!
I'm finding out how hard it is to get back in the game after
decades raising children, especially since the technology skills
needed for good jobs have left me way behind. I hear how many woman
in my position settle for the first thing they can find. For me that
would not be life. There have to be more meaningful possibilities.
Jane Pauley has my back. She says this is the year the last of
the baby boomers turn fifty. But it's not our parents' fifty. "Those
of us living today have been handed a remarkable gift with no strings
attached--an extra thirty years of life for the average person. Now
that gift is forcing us to answer a uniquely twenty-first century
question--what are we going to do with our supersized lives?" YOWZA!
We need to make transitions mindfully to take advantage of those
potentialy good and meaningful years.
In a book that reminds me of a Victorian crazy quilt where
dazzlingly unique patches are united into a coherent whole, Pauley
uses her story and those of some really fascinating people to make
insightful points. There's Sylvia who enrolled in college after being
laid off and became a substance abuse counselor. She says, "I would
define success as pouring yourself into what you do, into what you
have a passion for doing, giving compassion to others, and basically
changing the world one individual at a time." There's Gid who became a
stand up comedian at the age of 61. "We're the first generation that
gets a do-over." There's Jerry who gained a rich sense of community
when he went from a lucrative career to a volunteer fire and rescue
squad. And there are others including Pauley who is a frank and
fascinating woman.
I can't imagine reading Your Life Calling and not becoming
engrossed in its lively narrative style. I also can't imagine not
being energized and inspired. I think anyone approaching a
significant life transition, even one years away, should check this
book out. I'm surely glad I did!
On a personal note, I was reading Your Life Calling draped across one
of my favorite comfy chairs in the University Commuter Lounge, all
tricked out business casual for the grad school open house. I was set
on fire by a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "Faith is taking the
first step even when you can't see the whole staircase." That's just
what I was about to do. Another quote that really struck home was by
J. K. Rowling: "It is impossible to live without failing at something
unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at
all." That is one thing no one can accuse me of. I've failed at
plenty of stuff (including my first PhD program) and always bounced
back ready to try something else!
A great big shout goes out to all the others who are in the thrilling
process of self rediscovery. Bon voyage!
Julia Emily Hathaway



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