This week marked my husband's last week working as a high school math teacher. He's been pretty unhappy lately - with the content he was teaching, the students who didn't put in any effort to learn, and the increasingly frustrating policies (from his district specifically and the state of Michigan in general) stunting teacher growth, experimentation, respect, and yes, even pay.
Thankfully, he was able to find new employment. Though he is sad to leave his current students in the middle of a school year, everyone has been pretty great and understanding toward him - from his students and their parents, to his fellow teachers, and the administration. They all know it's been tough for teachers lately, and don't blame him for finding something new.
Starting on Monday, then, he will begin a new career as an actuarial analyst at AAA. I'm excited for him for many reasons. First, the obvious - it seems like it will be a less-stressful work environment for him, and comes with a significant salary increase. The hours are more reasonable, too - which means no more waking up at 5 AM. It is unlikely he'll have to bring much work home with him outside of working hours. Of course, it is also a slightly longer commute (especially since now he'll be driving with the traffic), and he'll be giving up school breaks and summer vacations - but nothing new comes without some sacrifice.
The biggest reason I'm excited for him though is because he took concrete steps to change something about his life that he wasn't happy with. So many people get stuck in jobs they dislike and just stay there, for years upon years, without even looking for other opportunities. Change is scary, and it's hard to take a risk.
I know that I personally struggle with "avoidance." If something makes me anxious, I try to ignore it, or not think about it. Instead of acknowledging it and dealing with it and seeing if there is anything I can do to change my situation for the better, I often actively repress it and go about doing what I've always done - even if it means I'm hurting myself in the long run. Of course, being aware of this tendency of mine helps; I try to be cognizant of when I'm avoiding and curb it. I try to push myself to do things outside of my comfort zone. But it's not something that comes easily to me - or to a lot of people.
Self-marketing my artwork is one of the things I struggle with most. It feels comfortable for me to put my art up on Etsy, or post it on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, so I do all of these things. But those things are not enough on their own. Instead of putting my art out there and waiting for people to find it, I have to work more at encouraging people to find it, at leading them to it.
One of my goals for this year is to submit my work to more exhibitions, to look at call to entries and see if any of my artwork fits what local galleries or art groups are looking for. I also want to start getting my art onto more websites - websites that do print-on-demand art prints, or other items with art printed on them - like notecards, fabric, etc.
I have been focusing a lot lately on my story because I am almost done with editing it. Once it's finished (again), I will be submitting query letters to agents and trying to get my manuscript out there. I hope to then also have more time to work on getting my artwork in more places, as well.
As far as transitions go, however, I have another big job transition to mention - my own. I met with the communications department of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield this week to discuss working for them part-time on a temporary basis (the next eight weeks or so) while they catch up on a lot of design projects that need immediate attention. Someone I used to work with at EMU's Campus Life works there now and thought of me when they started realizing how swamped they were and how nice it would be to bring in another designer. It's always so rewarding to be remembered! I will forever be appreciative of the people who have contacted me about opportunities - especially since I'm so often neglectful of seeking any out.
It'll be nice to have regular projects to work on (and a regular paycheck) for a while. I think this will be good for me, and still provide me with enough time to work on wrapping up my manuscript edits and doing what I want to with my personal artwork.
What a coincidence that my husband and I both will be starting new opportunities next week!
Thankfully, he was able to find new employment. Though he is sad to leave his current students in the middle of a school year, everyone has been pretty great and understanding toward him - from his students and their parents, to his fellow teachers, and the administration. They all know it's been tough for teachers lately, and don't blame him for finding something new.
Starting on Monday, then, he will begin a new career as an actuarial analyst at AAA. I'm excited for him for many reasons. First, the obvious - it seems like it will be a less-stressful work environment for him, and comes with a significant salary increase. The hours are more reasonable, too - which means no more waking up at 5 AM. It is unlikely he'll have to bring much work home with him outside of working hours. Of course, it is also a slightly longer commute (especially since now he'll be driving with the traffic), and he'll be giving up school breaks and summer vacations - but nothing new comes without some sacrifice.
The biggest reason I'm excited for him though is because he took concrete steps to change something about his life that he wasn't happy with. So many people get stuck in jobs they dislike and just stay there, for years upon years, without even looking for other opportunities. Change is scary, and it's hard to take a risk.
I know that I personally struggle with "avoidance." If something makes me anxious, I try to ignore it, or not think about it. Instead of acknowledging it and dealing with it and seeing if there is anything I can do to change my situation for the better, I often actively repress it and go about doing what I've always done - even if it means I'm hurting myself in the long run. Of course, being aware of this tendency of mine helps; I try to be cognizant of when I'm avoiding and curb it. I try to push myself to do things outside of my comfort zone. But it's not something that comes easily to me - or to a lot of people.
Self-marketing my artwork is one of the things I struggle with most. It feels comfortable for me to put my art up on Etsy, or post it on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, so I do all of these things. But those things are not enough on their own. Instead of putting my art out there and waiting for people to find it, I have to work more at encouraging people to find it, at leading them to it.
One of my goals for this year is to submit my work to more exhibitions, to look at call to entries and see if any of my artwork fits what local galleries or art groups are looking for. I also want to start getting my art onto more websites - websites that do print-on-demand art prints, or other items with art printed on them - like notecards, fabric, etc.
I have been focusing a lot lately on my story because I am almost done with editing it. Once it's finished (again), I will be submitting query letters to agents and trying to get my manuscript out there. I hope to then also have more time to work on getting my artwork in more places, as well.
As far as transitions go, however, I have another big job transition to mention - my own. I met with the communications department of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield this week to discuss working for them part-time on a temporary basis (the next eight weeks or so) while they catch up on a lot of design projects that need immediate attention. Someone I used to work with at EMU's Campus Life works there now and thought of me when they started realizing how swamped they were and how nice it would be to bring in another designer. It's always so rewarding to be remembered! I will forever be appreciative of the people who have contacted me about opportunities - especially since I'm so often neglectful of seeking any out.
It'll be nice to have regular projects to work on (and a regular paycheck) for a while. I think this will be good for me, and still provide me with enough time to work on wrapping up my manuscript edits and doing what I want to with my personal artwork.
What a coincidence that my husband and I both will be starting new opportunities next week!
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