This year has a few leftover days, so I am going to use them to catch up on all the reflecting I’ve been putting off.

To be honest this year was a mixed bag. We got hit a couple of financial and social setbacks in the spring. Both relationships and circumstances left us feeling in the lurch.  Sometimes you just don’t have the margin to stop and mourn your losses because you have to keep living. Instead we had to do the dreaded “pivot.” Twice. 

First, I pursued substitute teaching. That went okay, but the jobs were mostly just hanging out on playgrounds, and doing cafeteria duty. Those are perfectly fine, but the pay was just too low when you factor in driving back and forth to several different schools each week. The job cost more in time and gas than it was worth plus hanging with kids all day drained me of the specific kind of energy that I needed for my own kids. Kinergy?

As for relational situations, there were people we intended to spend time with that did not want to spend time with us. Rejection stings at any age. The bright side is that other people did want to hang out with us. This was the year of unexpected friendships, and I want to celebrate that. 

We found ourselves coming into the fall with our spending outpacing our savings. My cousin who lives in Texas sells insurance from home, and encouraged me to give that to go.

In order to get certified, I had to take a two-week course that I dragged out over two months, which I do not recommend. But if we have learned anything from Aesop, it is that the tortoise does eventually make it to the end. I got my certification at the end of November, which was almost end of the year. There was a huge temptation to just wait until January to actually start selling. 

The thing with procrastination is that it sucks. I just felt anxious and I don’t get the things I needed. Waiting wasn’t going to serve me in this situation. With just three weeks left in the calendar, I had to jump into selling insurance no matter how cold the water was. 

Reading about something technical and taking a test, for an academic, is preferable to putting myself out in front of the public. The first couple of sales pitches I gave were painfully awkward. I was self-conscious and tongue tied like I was 19 again. People talk about scaring yourself, but it’s highly unpleasant to be new and bad at something all over again. I really wanted to quit, but I could not because we were out of options. I had to make it work.

The axiom that sales is a numbers game turned out to be true.  Eventually, I got into touch with people who wanted what I had and I helped them get it. Now, with three days left in the year, my sales commissions have covered all my classes, licensing, and startup costs. It’s been a tough, but a remarkable year. I feel hopeful coming into the new year. Thank you friends for sticking it out with me. Cheers to 2025!