The Future is Mine!!!

"Except, which future exactly? The one with you as X or Z? Oh. . . as both? . . . Ok, how's THAT going to work? And what about Y? Didn't you still want to do that?"

Haha ok, needless to say I still am in the midst of deciding what I want to do for a career. However, I thought I would explore a few options today, because there are some things that I have been thinking of doing. . .

While I am still playing around with the idea of horses, there are a few things that I could see myself doing in regards to them. These aren't exactly conventional (some are actually more volunteer-sy), but they still sound awesome to me:

1. Spending time in Ibiza, Spain doing Parelli with horses while helping children. There's a lady named Karen Sailer who's already in Spain doing exactly that, and I think it would be awesome to combine my interests in Spanish, travel, horses and helping kids all at once! This probably wouldn't be a career, but it'd still be awesome to do!
2. I cannot for the life of me find the article, but I am almost positive there was an article in the Savvy Times a long time ago about a Parelli Professional who got to travel and spend a few weeks in another country to help out the locals with their horses. Similar to the above, just it would be in a less-developed area
3. Being an equine-assisted therapist. These are people who work in the self-help field yet get to use horses to help their clients change behaviors. Specifically, I'd love to use EAP and I'd love to learn from Linda Kohanov at her facility in Tucson, Arizona.
4. I know it's bizarre, since I don't have a horse, but I would still really really LOVE to stay at the Parelli Center for a while. I just imagine what it's like to be there. It seems so peaceful and accepting, and I really don't care what I have to do, because I'm going to be there someday. The Parelli system has such amazing values; I really don't know what other place in the world has such a strong focus on self-improvement and growth and that is huge to me. So even if the actual horse part of things doesn't pan out, I want to work for Parelli somehow. Maybe in the blogging department ;) I just know that I LOVE their values.

I've also found myself more interested in dog psychology, too. So I think it would also be awesome to be a dog walker/ trainer. I'm talking trainer as in Cesar Millan type of trainer, though. So I think it would be fantastic to rehabilitate a dog, and currently I'm going to rehabilitate my own little scoundrel xD (he'll be a happy dog in no time! Or else! muah-ha-ha!) This wouldn't be a career for me, though, just something I'd like to do in my leisure time. I think someday I would like to train a guide dog and see how that goes . . . I think that would be very rewarding.

Back to careers, though . . . I have also been considering teaching as a future profession. It definitely has some major perks and major drawbacks. Perks = summers off, gone the same time as kids, awesome hours, talking all day. Downsides = lesson plans, possibly dealing with kids too much, grading homework, falling pay. The summers off benefit is huge, because that gives me 3 whole months to do whatever I want. That would be WONDERFUL to travel, because I know that I want to travel. Otherwise, I could just explore one of my other interests during this time. And I believe I would be teaching younger kids, too, probably more elementary school age, so in reality, lesson plans and homework wouldn't be too strenuous. But the kids would be cooped up with a lot of energy and that might get tough.

Another job I'm considering is being a life coach. This is something that I could even do on the side if I want, but it sounds genuinely awesome! The Master's Course group that I'm a part of gives me access to 2 different life coaches and so far I'm really pleased with what they've brought to the table. And it seems fun on their ends as well! I'd love to help people change their lives, that'd be fantastic! I would want to get certified through Martha Beck to be a life coach.

Kind of on the heels of the life coaching idea is that of a career coach. I'm not quite as interested in this one in the usual boring "take this career test, see any you like?, ok look up more details" blah blah blah. I like the "so. . . what excites you? What makes you want to wake up in the morning?" kind of coaching. That's awesome to me. Figuring out what your soul wants to do. And I guess, really, that is part of life coaching too. Cool :)

Another thing I want to do for a little while (or at least try) is being an editor. I'm really a words person and I think it would be awesome to read books and work with authors to help publish their work. I actually found a small publisher in Minneapolis that is looking for interns so maybe that would be something else I could try this summer somewhere closer to home.

Lastly (I hope haha) I want to be an author. It would be so amazing to publish a book. . . Just to have the feeling and proof of my contribution to the world, right in my hand. That would be phenomenal. I know it will be a lot of work, but someday I am going to publish one. I am so interested in people's life stories, I might as well write mine ;) (or not, we'll let future me decide that one)

Ok I lied. Not done yet. I forgot one of the biggest things I want to do . . . TRAVEL!! I know that for a job I'm not keen on traveling. When I say that, I mean that I don't want to travel on business trips or something. That sounds dull to me. I don't want to be in a foreign land and be stuck in meetings all day. I want to see and do things! So, as a part of my college experience, I am definitely studying abroad, I just have to decide where. And also after college, I am planning on taking a gap year and seeing the world then as well. And if I still haven't had enough, I could always join the Navy and see things that way :) I would join the Cryptology department and use my language skills, so hopefully I would come home with a better understanding of Spanish or an entirely new language under my belt.

And the only other thing I forgot is graphic design. I don't want to do it for a living, but I think it would be pretty cool to do. I would love to be able to design my own website, too. That kind of thing. It'd just be a really useful skill to have.

So, after reading all that, can you tell I've looked things up? Haha yeah, it's a lot, I know. But I think that's everything I'm seriously considering. There are a few other jobs hanging around (paralegal, librarian, psychologist), but I'm not as interested in those. I'd be ok with doing them, but I don't know. They just don't sound as exciting. Librarian sounds cool, but it'd depend on the place. I'd love to be in a library all day some days, but other days I'd just want to dance and sing down the aisles and I'm pretty sure the kids might look at me funny :D Plus, I guess I just don't want to stoop to that. I feel like people would say that being a librarian would fit me, and I agree, it would, but I don't want a job that fits me: I want to grow into it. I want to be challenged by my job :) so that means I have to pick something that's a little farther outside of my comfort zone.

Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll have a more concrete idea :)

Love,
Erica

Soul to Soul or Eye to Eye

I was watching a video done by Pat Parelli in 1987 the other day. For Savvy Club Members, you can find it on line. It's called California Expo 1987 Mar 06. It's a little hard to hear what Pat's saying, as a forewarning, but it's an incredible show of just how talented Pat is, and this is even 23 years ago!

But, the bad hearing turned out to be a blessing. It really made me pay attention to what Pat was doing more than what he was saying. So, I was absolutely astounded when the end result of what looked to be a few needless things turned out to be him riding the horse around bridleless. And what happens when things go bad (no spoilers here, watch it yourself). And the video's only about a half hour long, too. I was astounded.

So, while walking my dog I really thought with how in the world Pat was able to bring that change in that horse around so quickly. It looked like he was barely doing anything except yielding the horse's HQ. And I came across an interesting scenario.

While I was walking my dog Morrie there are some cows who just got brought in at a neighbor's house. I didn't know at the time, but my dog seems to just love them. I think he thinks they're just huge dogs or something, because he gets really excited whenever he sees them. And so I follow some of Cesar Millan's dog psychology, and like what he does, so I got to act as him for a little bit to keep Morrie under control. It didn't work. Well, I had an epiphany. The reason things didn't work with Morrie was because I was relying on my eyes. I couldn't feel his energy. So, I'd only discipline him whenever he looked excited, but I couldn't actually feel his energy. I still can't.

And I realized that I think that's a part of what I'm lacking with the horses. Now, I'm sure it takes a long time to develop this, and I also believe that this a part of what Tom Dorrance calls feel. I likened it to being on a soul to soul level, instead of just eye to eye. Because with horses, and with Morrie, I look at what they're doing, but I can't really feel it like Pat or Cesar can. Not that I expect to, but it was a very interesting realization. Partially, because it really gave me a deeper respect for people who are good with horses (and Cesar, too), but also because I can really see how this would transmit to horses.

If you could just feel their energy, and what state they're in at that time, you would do the right thing. It's exactly like one of my favorite quotes from Linda Parelli: "If you can read the horse, you'd know what to do." And so I realized one of the reasons I can't read horses very well yet is because I can't feel of them yet, and if I can't do that there's no way we can feel together, and eventually get them to feel for me.