The Journal

I am so happy to announce that I graduated from esthetician training at the International School of Beauty in Palm Desert, California. The curriculum is about six months long so I had to pace myself. It is amazing how difficult it is to get back into the habit of studying after a decade has past since your last class!

Now that I have my diploma I am qualified to sit for the licensing exam that is administered by the State of California. I am not enjoying studying anatomy and physiology!

Unexpected Surprise

Going back to school with students who are decades younger was a bit odd at first. However, I luckily have a very immature personality and enjoy being the “class clown”.  By the time I completed the curriculum I had fallen in love with my classmates and look forward to knowing them in the future. The stereotype of women grooming each other could be called beauty school. It was great to pamper and be pampered by this lovely group of women.

Now What?

As I sit here in my living room with my boxes packed I am preparing to enter a new phase of my career and life. A few years ago I was able to take an early retirement from the State and I sort of “drifted”. I did not know what to do, how to spend my time, or how I fit in the world. I have to say it was a very difficult period of time. I am very goal oriented and always have a plan. In fact it was similar to how my thesis adviser described the task of finding a good topic. He said finding the right question was the difficult part. He referred to it as “mucking around”.

I came to accept that my life is more full when I have an active career, yet I did not know where to go and what to do. I began to think about my career as my thesis. I needed to find the correct question.  The answer is easy to come to when a person properly frames a question.

The Question

For about a year I was running around in circles trying to find the right job. I thought about this, and that, and this-n-that but somehow I was not able to see a good career path.  That is when I began to imagine this problem as my thesis adviser taught me, I began formulating my question. Let’s see some of the questions that I started with:

• How do I get rich fast?
• What job will allow me to work at home?
• How am I going to manage my dog if I am working full time?

These were not the right questions to ask. That is when I started this series of questions:

1. How will I be in control of my day and my activities?
2. I want to work with others so what type of social experiences do I want?
3. It is my pleasure to help people so where can I have an impact on the lives of my friends?

Naturally there were more questions but ultimately it came to this:

• How can I have pleasurable experiences with others where I can have an impact on their lives without taking on stress in my life?

When I was pondering this during one of my first treatments with an esthetician,  I realized that becoming an esthetician would answer my question. Giving facial treatments is very pleasurable and when clients leave they always look better than when they came in. As an added bonus, I get to spend much of my day in a dimly lite room with ethereal music playing in the background.

Leaving Soon

I am looking in other States and throughout California for a future home for myself and my spa.  I am eager to formulate the right question for my move!