January 27, 2009

Gretchen Dietz

A friend once told me that the average person changes their job seven times.  This means that some never leave their career and others change it as much 14 times.  While I always thought I was on the low end of the job changing spectrum, I’ve come to realize I like being one to push the other end to an even higher number.  I’ve had many jobs over my lifetime — bank employee, delivery driver, bicycle salesperson, television news production assistant — and for the bulk of my career, a teacher.  But I didn’t stop there.

I retired from teaching after 22 years in the classroom in 2008. My career focused on teaching middle school, high school, and college students in the areas of history, English, and environmental science. As a teacher, I was known for my passion, my sense of humor, my creativity, and my desire to help children and young adults make a difference in the world.  I enjoyed developing innovative curriculum and finding ways to teach “outside the box” of the traditional classroom model. Unfortunately, such passion left me spent at the end of each day and it was difficult to find energy to pursue other interests in my life like writing.

Retirement was, at first, a frightening option.  Jumping from something as solid as a teaching career to something nebulous and undefined as writing kept me teaching perhaps longer than I would have liked, but once I made the leap I realized there was a world of opportunity before me if I only lifted my head from lesson planning and curriculum design long enough to see it. It’s rather ironic when I think about it. For 22 years, I advised my students to try many experiences  before they made a choice to be something — a doctor, a postal carrier, a mechanic — or settle down in one town or city.  It took me a long time before I was able to heed my own advice and the advice of my friend years ago who spoke over averages and job changes.

While I have enjoyed all my jobs of the past, I particularly love what I do now.  I help people with their writing projects — whether for personal or business purposes — and I supplement my income with a dog walking business (Wags n’ Words). It’s a combination of my passions — passions I now have time to pursue.

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