Career Paths

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Hi Justin, I am working on that as we speak. I have been in design for years. Clothing has be something that I love and is fabulous to look at and learn about when creating for me or others. Being in the fashion industry is miserable thus I am seeking somewhere else and something else that I can love and be involved with as a career.

Possible options are : UX/UI design, teaching (This fits in the druid way) , nursing, and a few more.

So… the first step that I did was look at my transferable skills and apply to positions.

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Hi Justine,
Thank you for expressing your vulnerability and where you are at. I have been in similar circumstances.
Something that I know is that all those industries that extract data to feed back to people are usually that one that worst environments and not sustainable or rejuvenating. Hence the burn out or feeling icky.
I do hope that you move toward something that aligns with you values.

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Working with great people is the best.

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I’ve spent most of my career life in human service, working with disabled folx and then in community mental health. I’ve had a stint as a self employed artist, which I quit doing when I went back to school. I ran a private practice as a therapist for about a decade. I specialized in working with adults and trauma. Now I don’t work that way anymore. Vicarious trauma is a real thing. When my mom became ill, there was no one else to look after her, so I did that. Now my husband has been ill so that takes priority. I do some technical writing from time to time, grant writing, covid policies, business plans, etc., I don’t do well in jobs that don’t reflect my values. I have no idea what I will do next.

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I am interesting in having his answered too!

My current profession is as a transportation engineer. I design traffic signals, figure out how many lanes to put on the roads, etc. There are some aspects of it that I feel like are druidry-aligned, like improving public transit or adding bike lanes or more walkability. I also focus a lot on safety improvements, which is not necessarily druid-specific on its surface, but something that I think is beneficial to society, so I feel good about that part too. But there are other projects, for example, that involve blowing up mountains to put in a new road that I feel isn’t needed (that was the worst project I ever had to do). Unfortunately I work for a consulting firm, which means we get paid to do the design work, but the cities/states/governments are the ones making the decisions about what happens on their roads. I don’t get to choose what I work on.

Part of me wants to try to grow this career in a way that I can focus solely on the aspects that I feel good about, but another part really just wants to do something else entirely, specifically being a writer. But between the full time job, being a mom, and working to turn our 1.3 acres from lawn into wild-space/permaculture forest/vegetable garden, I can’t find much time to work on making that dream a reality. If I were to quit my job I’d have more time to do the other things I want to do, but without this well-earning job I would have to sell this place that I’ve worked so hard to bring back to life and I know it would just get turned back into lawn. Also this has become my forever home, I plan to die here, so land restoration aside it would still be emotionally hard for me to leave.

So for now I am just compartmentalizing my life a bit, doing the day job that doesn’t quite fit who I am in order to be able to afford to do the other REAL work that I want to do in the world. And consoling myself when I have to work on a job that I don’t particularly like by reminding myself that someone else would be doing that project if it wasn’t me (a thin excuse, I know, but it is true and it helps me get through it) and trying to “greenify” things with what little influence I do have with our government clients (“have you thought about pedestrian access or bike lanes for this area?”). Perhaps when our mortgage is fully paid off I’ll retire and focus on something fully aligned with my spiritual beliefs, but for now my hope is to just slow-and-steady work on writing until I can hopefully make enough money with it to do it full time.

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Thank you for the reply, much appreciated! The atmosphere where I work now is thankfully not too bad - of all the places I worked, it was the ad agency that had the worst atmosphere.

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My primary occupation is Homemaker, with a capital H, that being our home here on planet Earth. I told myself years ago that I’d never forget that promise. I was making a great salary at one time working tech, part of a bigger problem every day in that field. Unfortunately, I’ve made a lot of waste in my life, but I’m working so hard to change that, to pay it back in nature care now. I’ve pulled a lot of ivy, invasive weeds. Saved trees. I like that work. I pick up trash sometimes. That too is good work for the soul. I’m serving my time as a producer of toxins, trying to learn to do better, be better. I figure I own about 10,000 years in caretaking to our future generations of humans, plants, and animals, but luckily time isn’t completely linear, and luckily I woke myself up.

My secondary jobs include Mother, Naturopathic Doctor, Acupuncturist, Writer, and Artist. The biggest struggle I have in my work is to not be afraid. We, in the PNW, are currently facing the worst heat wave we’ve ever had. It’s coming, and it’s going to be intense. It’s predicted to roast out here on Monday, and that’s terrifying. But it reminds me, this day and every day, that there is absolutely no time to waste. I work and I love my job. It definitely co-aligns on the Druidic path, I feel.

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Love this Terry, also… yes Druids we’re and still can be the scientist of the day. Enlightening others through The cosmos. I dig !

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Yes Babs, I am listening as someone who now understands that I don’t do well in places that don’t reflect my values as well… because lord knows I have been many for years , I am Looking forward to letting the SOP help guide me on a course that works.

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Yes, we all have to be reminded that if I wasn’t doing this job mindfully the someone else would be and they would. It be invested in the earth as we are seeking to be. Congratulations on the home and life. The garden sounds fabulous!

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It does !! Gosh if someone had says years ago that you will have to pay back for all the crap that you bummed on the earth I would have reeled it in. But I’m learning and growing . Xx

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I’m an attorney. Currently the job itself if more neutrally aligned with my Druidry. But, the income and work-life balance I have gives me time and money to help the environment, animals, and oppressed peoples.

Ideally, down the road, I would like to work for myself practicing law in something I am passionate about such as animal law and poverty law. I would love to be able to directly help others (including nonhumans) with my career. Which, to me, is a big part of Druidry.

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Hello all. I’ve spent the last 30 years in food service. I always thought that I would have loved to be a teacher, but never was able to pursue it. My last position didn’t aligin with my values at all; I spent 10 years as a manager for a large restaurant chain. The work life balance was non existent and the focus on profit was soul crushing. Even though my salary was good, I got to the point where I had to quit because I didn’t like the person I saw in the mirror. I took a job at a small college as a baker, which is one of the things I did when I was very young. Like all food service positions, the work is physically taxing for not alot of pay. But it is satisfying. I have alot of creative control over the products, most are made from scratch and I’m working on passing on my skills to others. From scratch baking is rapidly becoming a lost art; most bakeries and restaurants have moved away from it. Many of the employees along with the clientele are still young, and it is easier to influence the way they see the world, change their perspective on things. I try to pass some of that on along with the science of yeast handling, there is magic there when you think about it. After all, real food is sacred and preparing it directly connects me to the planet and my ancestors ( many relatives were also in food service) and allows me to touch the lives of others with my intentions and energy.
I’m up for promotion to chef in September and I am both looking forward to it and dreading it. It’s more hours and more management. However I need the salary. I also know that as chef I will have the ability to move the operation in a more environmentally sustainable direction.

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Wow, a lot of impressive people within our community here. There is such a wide range of professions here and it’s amazing how we all come together.

Currently, I am on disability and have a real hard time physically for several reasons. I won’t bore anyone with the medical history, but suffice to say, I am working towards getting back out there.

I can say that I have had many jobs in my life. I have been a babysitter, music sales, home healthcare worker, took care of an herb farm for a small family run business here (they still have the business and have gone into international sales), been a line cook and restaurant manager, did an internship with a senator, call center work for Verizon (can you hear me now? lol), tutor, student teacher, professional student, freelance researcher, did some journalism work, and even owned two different businesses in my life. One with my first husband, which was collectible sales (cards, figures, coins etc etc), and one with my current husband when we were living in Ireland and that was a taxi business. He drove and I answered calls and dispatched. I fell ill and we had to come back here to the states, since I was a citizen here in need of two operations and we just couldn’t afford to pay out of pocket over there.

No matter where I’ve worked, I managed to bring my beliefs to work with me and every single job has something to do with Druidry. It may not seem like it, but even a taxi business was all about teaching people to share taxis to lower the footprint. Most taxis would not have people from different areas share their taxi … it meant less money in their pocket. We would let people share a taxi and share the same cost as if it were only one person. We did the same with school children, since they didn’t ride a bus. Three parents split the cost to have their children picked up at one of their homes and taken to school and brought back again at the close of school each day. They were happy and we saved several cars from having to do the job that one could do. I firmly believe you can make each job about your belief, about your faith.

Even though I am not working officially, I do advocacy work. I write letters to politicians and even some scientists on environmental issues. I organize fund raisers and throw them online. I have done much crafting and also spread the word about saving the world. I spend a lot of time putting packages together for people so they can learn to live a much different lifestyle to help the planet. I spend a lot of time propagating trees and other plants for people who want or need them at no cost to them. Today, for instance, I will be using my tree root growing boxes to propagate several different trees around this area to plant in many other places in a couple of weeks. These today are Japanese maples. So many people want to be able to have trees and plants and they cannot afford to buy them, so I facilitate the means that they can get these things without having to pay for them and encourage them to do their own once they learn, which I help them with as well. So, even though I’m not getting a wage per se, I am still working in a different sense to help the planet.

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Greetings! I work as a university health sciences professor where I teach about research writing and public health. I also do LGBTQ health disparities research with local communities One of the disciplines in public health is environmental sciences and its relationship to human health. Not my specific area of expertise bur I am working with a student who is doing a project looking at the relationship between tree canopy density and health outcomes And I know that I will be learning a lot about my local ecology as a new candidate.

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Hi Raven Storm, thanks fantastic. Where abouts are You based ?

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Hi All,
Heather Mac said- wow! I love reading of the range of different types of career paths all of you have and how you have incorporated your spiritual path into them. Speaking from my own experience and as I am reading - yours as well many of you have had struggles finding the balance of relating you career to your Druid work or were in a toxic situation and got out of it to move into something else.

Please continue to make small steps because we are mighty like the Rushing winds and burning like the bright fire or mighty like the tides and deep rooted as the oak tree.

I am Humbled by what I am reading. Thank you all.

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I am in Cleveland, Ohio.

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I work as a landscaper. I love working outside with plants and soil, get a lot of time off, helps keep me in shape, and the money is good. At the same time most of the projects don’t align with my values at all. Installing lawns, using unsustainable materials like concrete, stones hauled from far away, all the gas I burn everyday going to various jobsites, etc. One job we had clients that wanted their entire backyard mulched with recycled tire “mulch”. I almost quit :crazy_face:. My boss is a big native plant enthusiast and we plant as many as he can convince clients to take so that’s cool.

I feel pretty ambivalent about using all these resources to make wealthy people’s property more valuable, but it allows me to make decent money working part time and the likely alternative for me is a low wage corporate job. My pipedream is to make a living through small scale agricultural in some way, maybe market gardening, mushroom farming, or beekeeping.

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Yes, Stand up to those ninnies that don’t know what they are doing :-). Ha .
Wealthy people find but when they are stupid. … no - got to go. :slight_smile:
Ok love what you are working on .