It was about 20 years ago, while working as an RN Assessment Coordinator (RNAC) in a Senior Living Community, when I first realized my true calling. Despite the daily stress and pressure that were hallmarks of that role, opportunities sometimes presented themselves to directly consult with a patient’s family and loved ones regarding their direction of care.
I relished those opportunities, so much so that on family consultation days my entire appearance and demeanor would change. On such days, I was upbeat and confident, and truly happy. I felt comfortable in my own skin, knowing for certain that I was able to leverage my unique experience and perspective to provide clarity and direction when their path forward was murky and uncertain.
On those days, I was able to truly make a difference in the lives of seniors and their families – a real, tangible difference.
And that felt great.
I remember thinking, “Wow. If only I could craft a career that would enable me to do this – and exactly this – every single day, without distraction. How great would that be?”
Well, as we’ve all learned, answers to life’s most important questions rarely come quickly and easily. Rather, they come with time, and only after a fair amount of consternation and coercion.
Sometimes, however, they appear out of nowhere, as if God or the Universe suddenly decides that the time is right.
The “right” time for me came almost two decades later, during a pandemic that no one had seen coming.
Like many during that intense and uncertain period, I found myself questioning many previously held beliefs, and longing for something different in my career. I had attended a seminar in which the speaker talked about building something called a “Vision Board”, a collection of newspaper and magazine clippings affixed to a poster board and designed to inspire us to achieve a greater purpose.
We began work on our Vision Boards in that very same seminar, and I found the exercise cathartic, inspiring even.
Over dinner that evening, I managed to convince my husband, Bill, to spend the following weekend working on his own Vision Board along with me. We ended up enjoying the exercise so much that we hung those Vision Boards on the back of our bedroom door where we’d see them every morning and evening.
Interestingly, our Vision Boards were each completely different. Bill’s board was full of beaches, boats, and wellness-related things (as those of you who know Bill would expect), while mine was covered with images suggesting a career “rebirth” and achieving a greater purpose in life.
We’ve been looking at those very same Vision Boards for about 3 years now, and we often remark about how many of those images have since come true – for both of us.
One such item turned out to be One Life Consulting, my own business focused on that one very thing that so energized me 20 years ago. Pinch me!
The past few months since our launch have been a blur.
Some of what has transpired has been exactly what I had envisioned, and some of it has been nothing of the sort. It’s true what they say about entrepreneurship – it changes your brain. Truth is, I’ve learned more in the past 2 months than I’d learned in the previous 2 decades.
One such learning – or maybe more of a realization – is that there are SO many more possibilities out there than I’d previously known existed. So many ways to help people. So many lives to impact. I can’t wait to see where this thing goes.
Kinda feels like it’s time for a new Vision Board!
