Counselor, Writer, Professional Organizer. This is a short list of career paths that I would feel privileged to travel down. I have attempted to complete the requirements necessary to become a licensed counselor, but a family crisis (read: Type 1 Diabetes) put the kabosh on pursuing a counseling degree.  Although I lack formal training as a therapist, I often find myself in situations where I actually provide advice, guidance, or just an ear to friends, acquaintances, and even strangers. Perhaps, this is the capacity in which I was intended to fulfill my counseling abilities in this lifetime. No degree required and no income earned, but it is rewarding for this old soul to serve as a life coach for those in need.

Dream Job #2.  If you have read the “Who is Joan” tab on this blog, you know that I have been writing FOREVER (or at least since early elementary school when I could grasp a pencil and actually spell.) I launched this blog on March 1st, and spent the next five or six weeks feverishly cranking out the stories that had taken up valuable space in my ever-shrinking brain. Then, spring arrived, complete with grass-a-growing-that-needs-a-mowing, mulching, planting, yada, yada, yada. (I squeeze the yard work in when I am not working at a paying job, or helping with homework, or walking the dog, or doing laundry, or cooking, or running errands, etc.) It is not surprising that an April “funk” set in and I rebelled. The first casualty of my ever increasing to-do list was writing. I just stopped. It seems that for the time being, Dream Job #2 won’t be a “job” at all. It will be a hobby, such as reading or gardening, or it will be a special treat, like getting a massage or a facial. No resume required and no queries to write! Whew!!!!

Dream Job #3. I am an exceptionally organized person. I am not sure how I actually obtained this particular “gift”, but I think it just may have something to do with being an anal perfectionist. It seems that there is quite a market out there for people who help others create a method out of their madness, or calm out of chaos. (I understand that there are cable TV shows devoted to this very cause.) I am not sure that I will ever host my own “Clear Your Clutter” program or advertise my organizing services, but I do know that I have helped many a folk reclaim a desk, bedroom, office, kitchen, etc.

The moral of this story is that while my resume states that I have a BA in Psychology and am currently employed as an Administrative Assistant, I am also a counselor, writer and professional organizer. I am not reimbursed monetarily, however, I am rewarded and enriched in many other ways. As MasterCard commercials like to say-that is priceless!