Microteaching
I had an interesting insight the other day.
As I’m wending my way through my midlife years, I have been playing with the “What if…” questions that I suppose haunt many people in their forties. But I guess where some people wonder “What if I really had become an artist/musician/actor/writer instead of just settling down in my career?” my questions run more along the lines of “What if I really had pursued a professional career instead of the writer’s life?”
Don’t get me wrong: I’m deeply honored to be a writer, and to be as modestly successful as I am. It’s really cool having been published, getting to do interviews, being invited to come speak to groups or lead retreats, and so forth. I love the writer’s life and am wildly thrilled and truly humbled that I have been granted this particular dream come true. But like many artistes, part of the price that I have paid as a writer has been to put my energy into my writing rather than into work that actually pays well (!), which means that, at almost 50 years old, I’m still doing work that almost any reasonably well educated 25 year old could handle — with compensation and prestige commensurate to my position.
But what if I had chosen a different path to follow? (more…)
