Pick Something and Be Good at It
What my Father-in-law Said
My father-in-law said, “Pick something and be good at it.” As simple as that advice is, it rings all sorts of bells for me.
By the time you figure out what you want to do in life, you likely won’t be doing that same thing when you get older. Life will insert itself, and you will move or lose your job and morph yourself into something else. You’ll take other training courses to change your trajectory. You will meet people who will influence you all your life. Your spouse is going to be somebody different in ten years. We change. Circumstances change.
One thing that cracks me up is when people complain and say, “My husband isn’t the same as when we got married.” Duh. Folks grow their entire lives. If it’s too dramatic a change, get a divorce and start over.
Okay, pretend for a minute that I’m 18 years old again, and ask myself what I will do with my life. At that time, I did what my parents expected me to do. I went to college. But I hadn’t had any practice being on my own. I’d never had a serious job other than babysitting and cataloging stamps for a neighbor. I wasn’t a very good student in the first place, and I was still wet behind the years. I also didn’t know very much about the world. I had never once joined a club in high school or played sports. I was already a recluse at the age of 12. I’m a recluse at 68 years old, so that’s still the same.
So, I flunked out of college, met and married my husband shortly after, and did what I loved to do: read. Occasionally, I would sit down and try to write. The operative word was try. It was a stinky case of writer’s block that lasted about 20 years.
I also had a bunch of jobs, mostly as a secretary. I used what I’d learned in high school, which was how to alphabetize and type. In that first job, I learned how to operate in a business office. There would be more offices throughout my working life.
We moved around a bit, not as much as I had as a kid with a military family, but none of the places felt like home. We lived in Germany for five years as a married couple which was fabulous. I’d go back in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself.
Then, we were in Maryland for a couple of years. Then, we moved to Coronado, California, to live with my mother for a year and a half and finally moved to Northern California, where we’ve been for the last 37 years or so. It’s funny that it’s never felt like home to me. I mean, it’s an okay place to live. Crime is a problem and has tainted the experience somewhat, but I also became a psychic here.
It was when I got psychic that I felt I’d finally arrived at what I was supposed to do for the rest of my life. That and writing.
Am I a good psychic? I think so, although I don’t particularly feel like one. It’s channeling, really, that I feel more comfortable with. I did readings for a few years but got tired of the same questions being asked repeatedly. Now, I prefer to teach people to do their own psychic work. The problem is that before you can do your own good psychic work, you have to grow up.
By the way, if you ever do go to a psychic, and they say you’ve got a curse on you and for more money they can tell you who put it on you. And then, for even more money, they would say prayers for you, burn a big candle and would remove the curse. Say thank you, and leave. Quickly. They might even follow you down the sidewalk, trying to make the sale.
I actually had that happen to me. I felt like saying, “Candle, this, you scam artist,” but I didn’t. Who knows? Maybe she could put a curse on me. I’ve only ever thought about a gift of hemorrhoids for the orange-haired one. I don’t know if that worked.
In any case, if you decide to pursue your psychic abilities, it won’t be like you’ve suddenly become a car mechanic or a rocket scientist. You will feel normal — like always.
You also can’t be afraid. The thing is, is that you have reality on the one hand, and on the other psychic hand, you’ve got a lot of unlikely stuff going on that other people can’t see. It makes it difficult. It was a long time before I announced it to the people around me (except Dennis, my husband. He’s known from the beginning), that I was a psychic. Mostly, I was afraid of losing my job, but they liked me well enough to keep me on even though I exhibited strange ways and laughed to myself a lot.
It wasn’t until after I retired that I decided I wasn’t going to hide my psychic self anymore and just announce to all and sundry that I talked to dead guys. People understand dead guys more quickly than they do spirit guides.
One thing that helps you to be a better psychic is to try not to be a victim anymore and realize that it’s nobody else’s responsibility to make you happy. You have to make yourself happy and get over whatever feelings of jealousy, greed, and entitlement you have. Of course, once I became psychic, I pretty much had to learn all those lessons myself. So, maybe it’s something you can look forward to and not something you need to have already accomplished.
A psychic is here to serve — that’s it. You can make money doing it, but it’s like any other entrepreneurial business. You’ve got to toot your own horn. I tend not to do that, so earning a living as a psychic has never been a viable plan for me. I’ve always enjoyed the joy in another person’s face when I can help them see something that will be helpful for them.
I would add something to the advice from my husband’s father. I would say never stop learning, take the time you need to take care of yourself, and enjoy your life.
Thanks for reading.