A New Direction

There have been a lot of changes happening. Twists and turns that have taken on a new direction. Some of them expected; events that were bound to occur with the passing of time. Others have surprised me.

Firstly, as you might note in the upcoming podcast episodes, we are making a few tweaks to the four-weekly rotation that has served us so well over the last few years. The fact is, it’s time to move forward. As the podcast grows, we aim to ensure that it grows in a direction that we find expansive and interesting—a direction that takes us and our career as creative entrepeneurs towards our goals. We also always want to be consistently providing quality material for our audience. So, for these reasons we’re cutting out our ‘talking shop’ segment and replacing it with expert talks—real interviews with experts in the field of writing as we’re able to secure them. We are also shortening our episodes and making them more ‘bite-sized’. This, I believe, will be more manageable chunks of time for both us as creators, and you the consumer, making each episode easily digestible on a commute to work, for example!

On a personal note, there are a few other big changes happening in my life. As my nursing license comes up for renewal, I find myself faced with a rather painful decision. To maintain a nursing license, you have to complete a specified number of clinical and educational hours. This ensures you continue to keep your practice up to date and relevant with new developments in the medical world, and that your skills don’t become ‘rusty’ with the passing of time. Unfortunately, due to the pregnancy complications I experienced last year, I no longer have enough hours to renew my license. I could apply for an exemption, one they would likely grant with supervisory conditions. But, with a little one at home, and a husband who also works very long hours, nursing is not well suited to family life. So, for now, I have decided to become a stay-at-home mum. Perhaps in a few years down the line I will complete a ‘return to nursing’ course (yes, sigh, another course!), but for now I am content and even excited to be expanding my creative pursuits and raising my daughter.

It’s somewhat ironic that no matter how hard I try to work outside the home, I keep finding myself in this position. My husband called it my ‘writing sabbatical’ when we were waiting for my degree to be transferred. At this point, I’m ready to take the hint from the universe that maybe a flexible, creative and entrepreneurial business is exactly where I’m supposed to be.

One thing is for certain. I’ve been thinking a lot about change, both personally and professionally as a writer, and I believe it wastes valuable energy to try to resist change. Change is continual, inexorable, and unavoidable. So we may as well embrace it.