Are you in the profession of your choice?

Pretty much, I always thought I would own my own truck, but after seeing several friends go broke from it I am happy driving a company one.

I was, for many years, until the recession wiped out my business and my partner and I went bankrupt. I was an Interior design asst. and home stager. I am highly creative and very talented at decorating. I loved, loved, loved, my work and it was highly stimulating and rewarding.

Now, since 2013 I have fallen on the hardest times of my life and have decided, at the age of almost 57, that I am done with the great “out there.” I am currently living and working as a pet/house/horse sitter on a lovely ranch property and am paid and have housing for my services. It is peaceful, low stress and a nice alternative to trying to round up a crappy, low paying job after decades of living the good life. I just moved to this new property last week, though I have been working for the owner for the last 9 months.

My RV looks out over vinyl fenced horse paddocks and there is a lovely lawn, pond and swimming pool to enjoy, the owner is very generous and gushingly praiseworthy of my help and I think I will be here for a long time to come. I have just restored an older RV that came out adorable, fully painted white and turquoise and red and I am very pleased with my “Tiny House” restoration. I am waiting on the little rental place on the property to become available but after all my hard work here, I might just stay in this RV for a year or so to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Yep, I have fallen a thousand miles from my ivory tower of old, but, I have also never doubted my creative skills and resourcefulness.

From staging/decorating high end homes to refurbishing a 30 ft. RV. Life is weird, but I soldier on. haha

@coloma – how did you landed on a farm from interior designer. Seems no connection.. did you have any experience before?

Luckily, yes.

@imrainmaker I live in the Sierra Foothills of Northern Ca. and have lived on rural properties forever. My homes have always been on 5–10 acre parcels and I have had horses and farm pets of my own for years, I am very animal savvy yes.
I commuted to the capitol city for my work for years, about an hour away but am a country girl at heart. Out here there is a big of need for pet/house/ranch sitters and this is what I have been doing the last 2 years now, and this new living arrangement just came up awhile back.

The owners travel extensively and also board horses, a total of 9 horses here and 4 dogs and gardens that need tending and a lot of peaceful down time. We have a ton of help, gardeners, stall cleaners, pool guy, and I just sit with the house, dogs, water the plants and feed horses am/pm. It takes a village to run a ranch. haha

Since third grade I wanted to be an artist.

I’ve been a professional “artist” (illustrator, photographer, graphic designer, web designer, writer, art & design teacher) for 28 years now.

So yeah.

Yeah, pretty much. I had no idea what I really wanted to do and I decided HR. It wasn’t easy to break into without experience but now I’m here. For a corporate job I prefer it over anything else. I still kinda wish I could have my own business though but I have no idea what.

Profession? Though I fell into it virtually by lucky accident, for better than 30 years It has allowed me to be self sufficient through a period of unparalleled stress on anyone with a boss. Through the years I’ve watched as my peers experience brutal buffeting and disruptions in their lives and careers from forces beyond their control or understanding as the playing field tilts ever more against them. And though I love to whine and feel sorry for myself, when it comes to complaints about my “job”, I have no right to bitch.

Tough question, because I grew up.

I went to college for one thing, went to grad school for something else that I wanted to do (at that time), and then ended up doing something completely different for the lat 30 years.

So I am content with my profession now, and what I do, but it is diametrically opposite from the plans that I had when I was 24 years old.

NO.

Yes and I still keep learning new things daily. It’s stressful at times but rewarding. In just 16 years I have been fortunate to get diverse experiences in E.E. it would take a long time to describe “what I do” or “what I have done”

E.E.??

Electrical engineering

Ahh, thank you.

I finally feel confident in saying I am. I was very very determined in high school that I was going to be a physics Ph. D and work for NASA. My issues with my health finally convinced me that I could have an easier life if I let go of those lofty goals. For years I worried I’d regret switching into computer science. But now I love my field. And having just been laid off, I appreciate now more than ever how employable I am. It did not take long for me to find a new job. So there’s a sense of security there that I am really glad I have.

@coloma – Thanks for the clarification!!
@Ragingloli – I won’t dare to ask which one it is..))
@Mariah – Congrats on the new job if i read it correctly..))

I wanted to be a GP but didn’t quite get the grades I needed in Maths and Physics. So I tried nursing and that was not for me. It turns out I don’t really like sick people…

So I took a postgrad course on librarianship and have worked with information and libraries for 20+ years. I am now a medical librarian which I love and I am very happy to be doing

^^ Great going.. what’s GP by the way?

You mean General Physician?

Gay Pride?

GP is a General Practitioner or a family doctor
Lol @ragingloli

I learned book keeping and then got a degree in Travel and Tourism and moved half way around the world, hoping to work for Qantas, but I was in a chicken and egg situation and didn’t get the job because my work permit hadn’t come through yet. I never really worked in Travel and Tourism. I ended up doing customer service and professional secretary work and moved into more accounting and book keeping sole charge office positions. I really liked the work, but hold no formal qualifications in it. Then, I moved half way around the world again and found myself unemployable due to language barriers and family obligations. I ‘worked’ at home and created my own little business. Not a living, but enough to pay the odd bill and buy some Christmas presents for the kids. It still makes me feel a bit like the little match girl when I go around selling my soaps. Then, about 3 years ago, I answered at advert and got a job I never thought I would ever do in my life. I spoke enough of the language to get by and the industry was so desperate for warm bodies, they would take just about anyone with a clean police record. If you look at my CV, I’ve never stayed at a job as long as I’ve held onto this one. I love it. I do still think about going back to school and getting BSci degree and a teaching degree, though. I think teaching grade school / middle school kids might be what I actually want to do, but I’ll keep playing with babies for now. I’m signing two new contracts and possibly a third to work directly with the day cares now instead of going though a middle-man temping agency. One of the contracts starts in August and it is with my local county, so there may be much less time on the bus in future. Saving 3 hours in commuting time will make a big difference, I think. :)

I own and run a business that never in my wildest dreams would I have ever anticipated doing for a career. I studied my passion Radio TV and Film in college and wanted to be a news cameraman. Fate had other plans for me. I started 2 businesses out of college one a distributorship for waterproofing system and later a waterproofing company. 16 years later I sold them both to take a job with an adhesives and coatings manufacturer. 14 years later I bought it. I really love the challenge/risk/reward of what I do but it would not even be 50th on my list of career choices 30 years ago.

^ So…you could say you’ve become good at glossing over sticky situations.

@cookieman Yes indeed… “high-glossing” over sticky situations!