Eighteen months of change

Around the time I last posted I was beginning to realise that my heart was not with the retail furniture business. The previous month (ie April 07) three people who would be close to me asked me, independently of each other, whether I had ever considered primary school teaching. As it happened I had, many years previously, but had done nothing about it. I began to research the possibility of a thirtysomething husband and father starting out again after a completely new career. Thanks to the internet it is possible and I am now six months away from my final exams as the course is available on line with a local centre for onsite classes too. I have been blessed with continuous income too through substitute (supply) teaching throughout my course.

To say I have made the right decision is an understatement. Firstly the furniture business recently went bust and the shop closed. I had received 70% of my investment back before this happened, thank God. There is more to this story which I may come back to in a future post. Secondly the course, while demanding, is very family friendly and of course what job could be more family friendly than teaching? That's not to say life is a bed of roses and spending more time with wife and children can bring out new tensions that need to be addressed and dealt with too.

Until the next time...

PS Following on from my previous post, the incumbent Fianna Fail, Progressive Democrat coalition was returned to power but needed the Green Party and some independent support to form a decent majority. The Progressive Democrat party disbanded last Saturday, after their dismal showing in that election.

Current career struggles

As a share-holder in a new retail outlet, a pseudo-franchise of an existing operation, life has its challenges. Weekend working, late evenings, lower sales than expected all lead to a "trapped" feeling at times. Head-office, whose business model I must implement, believe that if they were here personally then sales would be higher. Perhaps they're right. To that end they've hired a "Performance Coach" to work with me on my motivations, skills and performance. It has been an interesting process, allowing me question where I am, what's important to me, and where I want to go. He has asked me about my ability to commit, my response to under-performance and my attitude, in order for me to help me see myself as others might, a mirror to myself in essence. This is an on-going process.

The personal side of all this is that my wife and children want to see me more. My wife doesn't have a business background, either in her own experience or that of her parents, while I do. Therefore our expectations are different. I need to prioritise. God is first, wife second, children third, work fourth and self fifth. What does God want me to be, where and when? Questions, questions, questions.....