Still in his caterpillar phase

Spent some time with my nephew this weekend. So much has been going on with him and it was good for me to get some clarity. I'm worried about him, because worry is my comfort zone. But I think what he's going through needs to happen. He's got to experience all this to come through on the other side.

His career is not working out as he'd hoped. In April, a competing baseball website approached him and he took an interview. He was flattered and he was considering it. Then the unexpected happened: his current boss let him go. He didn't realize how much he loved his job until he lost it.

Fortunately, the competitive baseball website snapped him up. But here's the thing: they assign him articles. At the job he loved, he wrote any baseball story he wished, as long as it was ready post on deadline. He's not crazy about the restrictions but you know what? That's what being a writer for hire is all about. It's time he learned that. (News flash: I didn't choose to write a post explaining the difference between a transmission flush and a transmission fluid exchange.) 

Also, neither his old job nor his new one actually employed him. No insurance. No 401k. No paid time off. He's in his mid-20s now and still in his childhood bedroom. He jokes that his car is older than he is, and it is. 

He's in love with Bobbie. I met her, and she's lovely. But she's a little older and divorced. I can tell that he's seeing his life through her eyes and now it looks different. 

So he's revisiting an old ambition: to become a teacher. With his degree in political science, he thinks he'd be good at American history.* I think with his chill demeanor, he'd be good with younger kids.

He's still in the exploration phase. It's going to be hard for him to pull the trigger and actually make the switch careers. His original baseball writing job made him so happy. But even when the going was good, it didn't pay well, and the economic realities of independent media mean even more belt tightening on the part of employers.

I asked Bobbie what attracted her to him. She said his "authenticity." I can see her influence in this. He was once sincerely attracted to teaching. It's more stable than financially rewarding than baseball writing and it appeals to him more than journalism.

I love him and am sorry he's hit this bump in the road. On the other hand, I love him and want him to transition through this so he can embark on the next phase of his life and career.

 

*Are you still reading, Kwiz? What do you think?

Photo by Erik Karits on Unsplash