{"id":1687,"date":"2020-11-04T14:53:14","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T22:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/?p=1687"},"modified":"2020-11-04T14:53:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T22:53:14","slug":"a-new-direction-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/2020\/11\/04\/a-new-direction-for-me\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Direction For Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have been quiet here on the blog recently. I have had ideas for blog posts. I have even written things I meant to be blog posts, but for one reason or another, I have decided not to share\/post those. Like with many people, I have spent a lot of time these last few months examining my life- where I am and where I want to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the most part, I am lucky. My job has been impacted by the pandemic, but not changed. I work from home right now, but I still do the same work. I am not concerned about losing my job. I did not get a raise this year, but that is the biggest financial impact of the pandemic on me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, I have been in this current position for over six years now. This is the longest I have ever stayed in the same position. I enjoy what I do. I love the people I work with. But I am no longer being challenged by my work. I am not learning anything new. And that is a problem for me. Being stagnant in my work is not what makes me happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This means I have been thinking about other options. I spent a few days pondering a PhD, probably in Sociology, but I honestly do not think I want to do a dissertation. I have looked at professional certifications like Certified Management Accountant, but, while I do fiscal work and enjoy it, I do not want to be an accountant. I have looked at other certifications, like the Sig Sigma Green Belt, which only cost a couple hundred, which I almost certainly will get. It is not a new direction, and really should be something I already have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But all of this thinking has had me thinking about what I like most about my current job and path. I enjoy the fiscal work and spending time in spreadsheets, but it does not bring me joy. It is just not a bad way to spend an afternoon. No, what I like most about this job, and all of my jobs since becoming a manager, has been the people management part. Not being anyone\u2019s boss, but sitting down with people and getting to know them, learning about their goals, and helping create a path where they can achieve those goals. I enjoy doing this with my staff, and I love it when my friends allow me to sit and help them make these plans. This is what brings me joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In light of this, I saw an ad the other day for 90% off some Life Coaching certifications, taking a program that is normally $500 down to $50, and I decided to go for it. Now, this is one of the least expensive Life Coaching certifications that I have seen overall, so maybe it will not end up being the best program I could get, but it will almost certainly be the best program I could get for the money. It will let me explore this option without a huge layout of money, to figure out if this is the direction I want to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I will be honest. I do not know that I would ever quit the work I do to become a full-time, self-employed Life Coach. There is a lot of risk there, and while I am the one bringing in 85%+ of our family income, I do not know that is a risk I am willing to take. But it is something I could do on the side. Or, it could just be training that helps make me a better manager. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems silly to be as excited about this as I am, but I am excited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So stay tuned to this space as I keep writing about personal finances, sharing pictures of my dogs, and talk more about this new direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been quiet here on the blog recently. I have had ideas for blog posts. I have even written things I meant to be blog posts, but for one reason or another, I have decided not to share\/post those. Like with many people, I have spent a lot of time these last few months examining my life- where I am and where I want to go.  For the most part, I am lucky. My job has been impacted by the pandemic, but not changed. I work from home right now, but I still do the same work. I am not concerned about losing my job. I did not get a raise this year, but that is the biggest financial impact of the pandemic on me.  Still, I have been in this current position for over six years now. This is the longest I have ever stayed in the same position. I enjoy what I do. I love the people I work with. But I am no longer being challenged by my work. I am not learning anything new. And that is a problem for me. Being stagnant in my work is not what makes me happy.  This means I have been thinking about other options. I spent a few days pondering a PhD, probably in Sociology, but I honestly do not think I want to do a dissertation. I have looked at professional certifications like Certified Management Accountant, but, while I do fiscal work and enjoy it, I do not want to be an accountant. I have looked at other certifications, like the Sig Sigma Green Belt, which only cost a couple hundred, which I almost certainly will get. It is not a new direction, and really should be something I already have. But all of this thinking has had me thinking about what I like most about my current job and path. I enjoy the fiscal work and spending time in spreadsheets, but it does not bring me joy. It is just not a bad way to spend an afternoon. No, what I like most about this job, and all of my jobs since becoming a manager, has been the people management part. Not being anyone\u2019s boss, but sitting down with people and getting to know them, learning about their goals, and helping create a path where they can achieve those goals. I enjoy doing this with my staff, and I love it when my friends allow me to sit and help them make these plans. This is what brings me joy. In light of this, I saw an ad the other day for 90% off some Life Coaching certifications, taking a program that is normally $500 down to $50, and I decided to go for it. Now, this is one of the least expensive Life Coaching certifications that I have seen overall, so maybe it will not end up being the best program I could get, but it will almost certainly be the best program I could get for the money. It will let me explore this option without a huge layout of money, to figure out if this is the direction I want to go. I will be honest. I do not know that I would ever quit the work I do to become a full-time, self-employed Life Coach. There is a lot of risk there, and while I am the one bringing in 85%+ of our family income, I do not know that is a risk I am willing to take. But it is something I could do on the side. Or, it could just be training that helps make me a better manager.  It seems silly to be as excited about this as I am, but I am excited.  So stay tuned to this space as I keep writing about personal finances, sharing pictures of my dogs, and talk more about this new direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30,3,17,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-goals","category-life","category-side-hustles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/20201103_132851-scaled-e1604529375294.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75MAh-rd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1690,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687\/revisions\/1690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}