Well Shucks.
How special
I've been holed up in my house all weekend - except for the trip to the grocery store I braved yesterday. Husband is out of the country - temporarily. I've been left to fend for myself - and to prevent impending disaster from my 7 , 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old sons. Sons. All boys. Three pee-pee's and a me. You're getting the picture. So, I did muster the courage to conquer the supermarket. There are two where I live. The one I prefer and the other one that has the shopping carts shaped into big plastic pick-up trucks. Yep. You can guess where I headed. The supermarket was left relatively unscathed, with the exception of a squished chocolate bar that a cute and chubby 2 1/2 year old hand managed to swipe and drop right under the moving wheel of the truck-cart. I pulled out my best mom-of-three boys trick - keep on pushing and pretend nothing happened.
But thats not the reason I started this blog. I am facing an impending identity crisis. Okay, so this is serious - potentially important shit. I need to talk about it - and frankly - no one understands it better than myself - so I will just go on pretending that I am talking to myself and in the meantime hope that I can work out some of this stuff.
To make a very long story short - I have at least convinced myself that I need to make some decisions about my career. I am linking career with identity very consciously. I want work that doesn't feel like a job, or a job where I don't feel like I am working. Currently, I teach 2 courses at a small university - and although the pay is bloody awful and there is zero job security and benefits - it fits this impossible qualifier. There are issues of course...more complaining about that later.
So why don't I just find a full time teaching position? Well...thats part of the dilemma folks. I would need to get a Phd...which means many things would have to happen and change. I'd be risking my time, energy and dollars into obtaining a very obscure and specific degree with no guarantee of being employed in this chosen field. I find academics to be very mean, nasty and cutthroat in general. Essentially, I am a wimp. Herein lies just a taste of that great crisis I alluded to earlier.
This is my first post. The wild and wacky antics of the Owen, Harry and Aidan Show will no doubt bring a lighter side to my incessant whining. Owen is 7, and was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (an Autistic Spectrum disorder) - and I am quite convinced that he was labelled for the sake of bureaucratic convenience. I'll complain about that too. I'll share my cooking - which is a good thing - and maybe my lefy slanting politics. (Be very afraid!)
I've run out of clever segues so...I'll hit to post button
Three Years
6 months ago
2 comments:
Hello Heather
I am also a recently initiated blogger...and i identify very strongly with your career dilemma (did i spell that right, i can't be bothered to check). I am also contemplating an academic career, and besides the fact that the first few years without your big D. the pay is bound to suck, i am also not sure of my research interests. So i just wanted to say hello and tell you that there are more of us out here...so hang on.
Lucky
P.S. I can't really identify with the 3 children, housewife part, considering that i am a single male...but hey...we can't all be blessed.
Hi, I'm blog flipping again and ran into yours...I started a short while ago and find it interesting to find others who are new. One day the light bulb goes on, inspiration strikes and here we are sharing our thoughts with the world that otherwise would have been privy only to ourselves. I have three boys too, and a masters degree in Art History. To teach even at a junior college level I knew it would require a phd...so I shifted to "doing" art rather than "talking" about art. I started my own graphic design business after my second child was born (he is now 11) and work from the home...it works for me. Good luck sorting everything out....Melissa
Post a Comment