What I love most about Second Bloom

November 5, 2019

Last month I released a series of interviews at my Patreon.

I called this project Second Bloom.

Second Bloom are the stories of transitions to new midlife vocations from mothering and homeschooling.

I introduced the project last month on the blog but in case you missed those posts here is a very brief recap.

Second Bloom is a series of conversations with women who have transitioned from homemaking and child-raising careers into training programs, bachelors, and masters degrees; women working in corporate professions, universities, and small businesses; writers, students, guides, helpers, musicians, designers, administrators, managers and healers.

Mothers with kids still at home and actively parenting tweens, teens and young adults. Mothers who have long launched birds from the nest. Mothers who homeschooled for a good portion of their children's education, and some that didn't at all. Mothers of two, three, four, five, six and seven children. Grandmothers.

Women with a strong commitment to that first career of homemaking and child raising, who have experienced or are experiencing a Second Bloom into new vocations in midlife.

Because this series of interviews resides at my Patreon it's available any time. It wasn't just for last month. You can sign up today and listen to all eight conversations at your leisure.

If you've been asking yourself - what comes next for me after homeschooling and raising my kids - you'll want to listen to these interviews. If you feel stuck in your current vocation, whatever that is, you'll want to listen to these interviews. If you resonate with stories of transition and personal growth you'll want to listen to these interviews.

I absolutely loved recording and editing this project. (In editing, making notes, and creating the pdf download that accompanies each interview, I got to re-listen and really absorb each conversation.)

I learned something from every woman I talked to, which was my goal in doing this project.

Here are a few things I loved the most and learned in my conversations:

There is a beautiful diversity of context, values, and goals within motherhood.

This is obvious but sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own little world and my own experience I lose sight of this.

My interview sample size was small and selected for a particular life experience which created a socially uniform group. But even within that group of somewhat similar individuals with somewhat similar life experience there was a real diversity of particular values and goals.

Mothers who always wanted to be mothers. Mothers who hadn't planned on being mothers. Women who wanted careers outside the home and were always working towards that. Women who had no career ambitions beyond motherhood. Women who nurtured the seed of their vocation through and in mothering. Women who discovered something wholly new about themselves in midlife vocations.

I loved hearing each woman's voice and experience and comparing it to my own, looking for similarities and appreciating the differences.

Resources and opportunities abound. As we put ourselves out there good stuff happens.

One of the most common themes in these interviews was "I tried this thing, then I learned about this other thing, and then I found an opportunity I didn't even know existed". Everything from freelance opportunities, contract employment, school and training programs, business ideas, internships, and job offers.

What this affirms to me is that you cannot map out every detail of a Second Bloom, or any transition for that matter. Which is equally freeing and terrifying, depending on your perspective. You point in a direction, do the work, and keep your head, heart and hands open to what comes.

Another thing: one of the most important resources we have is people. People know other people and people know things we don't know. People are a good investment.

Which brings me to my third, and last point.

All that energy you've put into your kids comes back to support you in the work you do outside of raising kids.

It comes back to you in the form of young adult and adult kids literally knowing more about certain things than we do and helping us along the way.

It comes back to you as children who believe in you as much as you believe in them and who are your biggest cheerleaders.

And it comes back to you as the personal mindset and skills honed in mothering that become the catalyst and inspiration for our own midlife growth and development.

As mothers (parents), we empower our kids when we believe in their ability to do hard things, offer support through those hard things, and provide unconditional love for them in the success, set-back, and failure of doing hard things. Turns out we can empower yourselves the same way.

You got this. (Maybe it's just me that needs to hear that.)

You already have what you need to do the work of a Second Bloom. You've raised kids. You have skills. You have a more mature perspective of life and yourself.

I would love for you to listen to these interviews to receive the same encouragement I did from these extraordinary, ordinary women.

Their wisdom, vulnerability, insight, grit and joy, exceeded my expectations for this project, and they have become inspiring examples, beacons of light, helping guide the way in my own Second Bloom.

To listen you can head directly to Patreon and sign up for the Courses & Workshops tier or you can read more here.