Life changes, life choices No matter what age you are, keep learning

By Elisa Claassen For the Tribune

WHATCOM COUNTY — When I was growing up in Everson, after a move from Central Oregon, I remember thinking through a number of possible career choices.

I admired Amelia Earhart, the pilot. I took Ground School for flying but didn’t have the budget to continue. I loved acting but decided to stick with community theater. A few other interests were relegated to being hobbies and not professions.

By high school, I was vacillating between journalism and architecture. Somehow journalism won out and I’ve managed to utilize that skill set for 30plus years.

I still doodle house plans when I am bored. In the meantime, life has changed both for me personally and within the world at large. When I graduated from high school in 1982, it was assumed I would go to college.

These days there are far more options: different types of colleges, technical schools, and even learning on the job.

Even for those of us who are years removed from high school, here are a few things to consider as you continue to become the person you want to become:

Is college for you? Or is something else?

Just because all of your friends are looking at college, ask yourself a few questions: Will your studies advance you toward your career goal? What does the college route look like cost-wise in terms of future debt load?

If you talk to someone in a field of choice, what would they recommend? A number of local companies are offering on-the-job training.

Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) trains potential drivers whether they have a commercial driver’s license or not, according to a current driver in my neighborhood. She took advantage of that herself and said she enjoys the job.

Likewise, Everson-area resident Greg Klassen is making a name for himself as the creator of fine-art River tables and furniture which he sells around the county. When I interviewed him several years ago, he had studied at a Christian college and worked at Lynden Door which had taught him the very woodworking skills he now utilizes to support his family in a creative enterprise.

Family-owned Barron Heating advertises on its website no experience required and training is provided.

Lyndenite Mark Warren has served in church settings. But he also has operated career/life coaching practice Mark Warren Associates out of a scenic office above Woods Coffee Shop in Fairway Center. One of the things he focuses on is helping you live out your true calling – find clarity and alignment with your core purpose and mission in your personal and work life. On his website, Warren keeps a recommended book list. Visit markwarrenassociates.com. (Courtesy photo)

Life hits you with changes

What happens if after college you don’t like your choice of career? Bellingham business woman and author AnneMarie Faiola has blogged, written books and given lectures about her path. It started by studying something she ended up disliking.

In her bio, Faiola explains that working in a correctional facility was not for her. As a child, her father encouraged her to be entrepreneurial.

Faiola enjoyed making soap. As an adult in transition, she returned to that and discovered it had potential as a true business. She founded Bramble Berry Inc. in her home, went back to school for an MBA, and continued to watch trends, address these in an ongoing blog, and demonstrates soap making online and also on the Hallmark Channel. Visit www.brambleberry.com for more.

Life changes are confusing

Whatcom Community College offers a program for housewives and other people who may have been away from the workplace and now have to enter or reenter that world.

WCC also has continuing education classes for personal enrichment to add skills in the arts, languages, and so many other things. Visit whatcom.edu for more. School counselors can assess skills, talk about programs, and look at financial resources. The staff at WorkSource in Bellingham also can point clients toward workshops and on-line resources, help look at possible other training options, and evaluate employment needs in the community. Also visit worksourcewa.com.

Clarity and alignment

Lyndenite Mark Warren has served in church settings. But he also has operated career/life coaching practice Mark Warren Associates out of a scenic office above Woods Coffee Shop in Fairway Center.

One of the things he focuses on is helping you live out your true calling – find clarity and alignment with your core purpose and mission in your personal and work life.

On his website, Warren keeps a recommended book list. Visit markwarrenassociates.com.

You haven’t given up

In addition to my writing life, I have like many others cared for an aging family member and supported myself with an array of temporary employment options in office settings.

It’s amazing how many tutorials are available online for computer programs, and what you can learn when you have no choice. Many of our lives aren’t a straight path upward and onward and may take zig zags, stop from time to time, and go off in new directions.

A new movie is at the theater about the life of boxing champ George Foreman. While I was more familiar with his small sandwich grills, I knew little of his life’s story. He started off in a family filled with love – and poverty. He didn’t really excel at anything and had no goals until he found boxing.