The movie Everything Everywhere All at Once tells a story of multiple parallel realities in which the protagonist, Evelyn, has made different choices resulting in different skills and abilities in each reality. It’s an interesting, if a bit bizarre and confusing, movie.
Whatever your thoughts on parallel realities, I’ll bet you’ve thought about alternate careers or maybe you’ve worked in more than one career. I have certainly wondered who I would be if I had chosen differently.
Journalism or creative writing would have been a better choice for my college major than business, I now realize. I enjoy writing, meeting people, and I am passionate about the truth. Communication has always been a strength of mine, but it has taken me years to recognize that.
Community Bible Study showed me that I enjoy teaching – adults, that is. Academic environments stimulate me, and I’m not sure why I didn’t consider teaching as a college student, but I didn’t.
It had never occurred to me, but now I think I would have made a decent pastor. Dan and I have led small groups for decades, and I believe that I would have been a good shepherd for a congregation. Writing, speaking and teaching God’s Word would also be in the mix. I wish I had considered it, but I wasn’t forward thinking enough.
Of course, when my children were in school, I could have gone back to my original career in IT as planned. I enjoyed it and was reasonably successful, but if I had done that I wouldn’t know how much I enjoy writing, and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to study and teach the Bible. I suspect I would be a very different person.1
Now, in our 50s or 60s, we may understand better what our vocations are, what we were created to do, and we might have time to consider a new career or volunteer in an area close to one of our alternate reality careers.
Have you wanted to pursue photography? Why not take a class and try it? Perhaps you wish you had pursued a medical profession. It’s a little late to go to med school, but you could investigate nutrition, teach an exercise class, or volunteer in a hospital. Maybe you’re concerned about education, so you could tutor children or get involved with the local school board. You get the idea.
It can be a challenge to figure out what to do with your time, so take your time. But at some point, you will either be bored, feel lazy, or get antsy. This is the time to consider how the last several decades have prepared you for what you will do in this next stage of life. And I’m absolutely certain that there is something useful and fulfilling you have been prepared to do.
Take a minute and ask yourself if there are any alternate reality careers that you have dreamt about, and then ask yourself how you can learn more about them or get involved in that field. Taking on a new endeavor like this would expand your creativity, your intellect, and would likely put you in social situations that you would not otherwise have ventured into.
If I had gone back to my IT career, my knowledge and skill would have grown, I would have gotten to know interesting co-workers, and I believe God would have guided me in that work and taught me more about himself. However, I took a different path, and I learned that God is ever present and constantly faithful in every kind of work.
The questions that I often consider are these: Was it God’s will that I made the career choices that I made, or was it my will? Have I ended up where he wants me or where my choices have led me? Or both?
However I got here, I am where I am.
It’s a paradox that I will never understand, at least not this side of heaven, but I believe it’s both. God is sovereign and he allows us free will. Somehow, God gets us where he wants us and allows us to make our own decisions. It may take a bit longer for those of us who were out of touch with him in our younger years, but he is patient.
Maybe I would have had a wonderful career as a journalist, teacher, or pastor. I’ll never know. But I know that God loves me and has a purpose for my life, and he will ensure that it happens. The same is true for you.
The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me. Psalm 138:8
What are the alternate reality careers you have dreamed of? Is there anything you could pursue in retirement that is similar to an alternate career?
Much of these descriptions of alternate careers is taken from a blog post I wrote years ago called Career Do-Over – Connecting Dots…to God (connectingdotstogod.com
Photo by Justin Luebke on Unsplash
Thank you for this look at alternate realities, Judy. There are so many roads each of us can take, although from this vantage point, that’s more apparent to me now than it was when I was in college a half century ago, and options were more limited for women. That said, if I had to choose again, I don’t think I would choose differently. I am frankly surprised by how many our age are not asking these questions, but are content simply to be retired and taking care of their own needs and that of their families. Sometimes I feel almost alone in seeking something more. Thanks to writers like you, I know I’m not.
As always very thought provoking in the realm of the eternal debate of free will. I went back and reread your earlier blog post on career do overs and caught your curiosity about the Bible containing career advice.
I just had to google!!! Found some interesting references, especially this one: In Colossians 3:23-24, we're told, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,