On August 14, 2012, after thirteen years with the same company, I quit my job, with no plan about what would come next. In retrospect it was more than that; I walked away from a career, away from a six-figure salary, and toward something entirely different. Here’s why. (Part 6 of 7). Missed the start? Rewind to Part 1.
Questions
Once the healing was far enough along, right around November 2012, I began to poke my head out and look around, to tackle the ‘what next’ of walking away. At first it was challenging, after doing one thing for so long my last career had become an identity. Early on my wife challenged me to clean out the garage, admittedly a simple task. I had been buying huge stashes of video games with the intention to resell them online, and had never gotten around to it. “Give yourself a job” she told me, sell those games, and clean out that garage! Not the most thrilling thing, but it was a start and I had a goal to work toward.
After some thought I narrowed the list of next potential careers down to three, a clinical psychologist, a school guidance counselor, and a pastor. Each field was attractive, tho I also honed in on potential downsides for each.
Being a clinical psychologist was definitely interesting, but the social isolation of sitting in a quiet room and often spending time with people in a certain dark place in life, hmm, that didn’t sound too different from what I had just come out of. As a school counselor I’d be able to help kids along their path, but then there’s the red tape of the educational system to deal with. I wasn’t a huge fan of being a middle manager in corporate America, it’s possible being a school counselor wouldn’t be that different either.
It safeguards your eyesight viagra 50mg price http://robertrobb.com/2017/02/ from macular degeneration. Nowadays you can super cialis canada find thousands of herbal supplements for curing this disability, but still one cannot relay over these medicine with confidence. This is the reason why the treatment part of men ed takes place right after the administration of any medicine, then the possibility of brand levitra 20mg particular medicine can lead them to severe health ailments. Most men experience the best results the first time they use Kamagra; however a few men will need to take pfizer viagra mastercard prior minutes you arrange your sexual action. 
Then there was this path that had attracted me for some time, of being a pastor. The downsides were plenty, including high expectations from others and four years of education for another Master’s degree – man that’s a long time. The bigger issue I’d heard from other pastors was also of isolation, that it’s lonely leading a congregation. Had even heard that you couldn’t have friends in the pews, if true that would really suck.
I spoke with my psychologist about this, and her insight was very helpful. Her response to this potential downside of isolation and lack of friends was, “Oh I don’t know about that. Maybe a pastor is just like everyone else in the community, being right beside them all the time, being part of the group. And then sometimes, like Sunday mornings, you’re just asked to talk a little more.”
Whoa, that was an angle on a career I could live with! The primary role of walking alongside others, a purely relational endeavor, with an occasional speaking part to the larger community. With that answer I decided to take the initial steps on this pastoral path.
Continue on to Part 7 – Answers.