I started this week by looking at my work history and what I have done, how many jobs I have had, and when I started.
When I was in the 3rd grade or eight years old, I started working with my brother doing lawns for the neighbors. Tony was so good at coming up with how to charge and not so good at sharing the cash, but it was a little hustle that we did to gain money for the holidays and treats. It lasted 3-4 months, but it gave me a taste of working outside the household chores. I went on to do the pretty usual jobs for young girls – babysitting for other families when I turned 10, helping neighbors with setting up for the holidays for a small fee, or helping them to set up for a garage sale, etc. I still do the occasional babysitting, but usually without the payment – how weird life is.
I went out to work for art stores, movie theatres, a grocery store, at a law firm, and as a massage therapist. I eventually went back to school for Graphic Design, and I have worked with so many clients in-house and as a freelancer that I could probably fill this post with just that info – I won’t. I continue to work in Graphic Design, and now, add photographer and Marketing Manager to that list.
It has been such a strange journey, but I look back and see the good, the bad, and the growth. I have changed so much as a person since I was a teenager. I think those first jobs set the tone for my work ethic and ability to get things done. It’s not easy running a weed eater at eight years old – a little funny, though.
I have had great jobs, okay jobs, and straight-up toxic or abusive jobs. I have experienced wonderful human beings and not-so-wonderful humans that even then I understood to have their baggage.
One of my touching moments was at Gold Canyon Candles, I’d found out I was four months pregnant a few weeks before, and the seasonal workers were in force to meet the demands of the holiday market. I had started to bring my lunch, and it went missing with a lot of other lunches. And in the middle of a pregnant break-down because with tight budgets that lunch was all I had, a co-worker (I will call her Lily) hugged me and made me laugh in the middle of tears. Lily offered to get me food, and from then on, she would get me Panera gift cards for my birthday. Lily and I ended up falling out years later, and it is still one of my biggest regrets. I have met and stayed in contact with so many people from Gold Canyon, and I genuinely miss them.
I am not always the easiest person to get along with, and I know that.
I am very logical, literal, and not always the easiest person to communicate with – I am trying to fix this, but it also works for me in some cases. When I worked for a law firm as a paralegal, it was that logic and ability to be super literal that got me recognition by talking around the legal gray area because the law firm didn’t make any promises. That job made me feel gross coming home, but it was work – and no matter how people were screaming at me, the few people I got to help because of their genuine need for help. I learned a lot on this job, including that my old last name meant “of Noah.”
For the last two years, I have been working with construction companies as a Marketing Manager. It’s hard work. I don’t scare off from hard work, no sir. The documents are so large and complicated, and it’s not just graphics but also the content, writing, and planning. I’ve learned so much about this process, and I could be successful here. I wished I could settle in here, but it doesn’t fit what I want in the long term.
I want to help people on a more individual level and make a difference for people. I have always had an interest in health, wellness, spirituality, and whole-person health. I like to create spaces for others to be themselves and work through the roadblocks that keep them from what they want. And I find that I did pursue this with Massage, and the continuing education, Reiki, Shaman interests, but I never felt like I could use them in a way that would allow me to make ends-meat.
As I move into the next step, I want to go back to school for health & wellness coaching, herbalism, plant medicine, and eventually training as a shaman to work with my already learned skills. The eventual ability to set my hours will help me start looking at that big picture goal!
My big picture is my holistic healing center that will invite healers and people from around the world to come and sync with nature, people and fill their cups to heal the heart and teach coping skills. Eventually, I want to run a summer camp for tweens and teens to learn life skills and take care of their minds and hearts as they go through the world.
<3 Fae