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Drinking the Kool-Aid
When I first heard someone use the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid” in a staff memo, my jaw nearly hit the teacher’s lounge table. To me, Kool-Aid was the stuff of childhood—sticky red mustaches, paper cups, and endless summer refills. But the phrase? That carried a much darker flavor.
I was working under a brand-new principal—Rich—who was just twenty-nine years old. Of all the qualified candidates who must have applied, somehow he got the job. His résumé boasted a couple years of teaching kindergarten, a freshly minted master’s degree, and a short stint as an assistant principal. He had energy and enthusiasm, sure—but experience? Let’s just say his cup wasn’t exactly running over.
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Midlife Sunrise
Sunrise is more than the start of a new day—it’s a promise. A clean slate. A soft glow after the dark. And this morning, on the first day of spring, it feels like that promise is meant just for me.
For years, I greeted my days in a classroom. I was a teacher for 30 years—a career I genuinely loved—but one that never fully fed my soul. It fit my personality beautifully: creative, nurturing, always busy. But it also drained me. The schedules were rigid, the paperwork endless, and the energy output… well, let’s just say first graders don’t run on decaf.During those years, I tried other creative ventures, little sparks that either fizzled or never quite caught fire. I told myself I was “just exploring.” Truthfully, I was scared—scared to let go of what was safe and familiar, even if it left me feeling half-asleep.
Now, though, something inside me is waking up. A new dawn is breaking.
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Climbing the Wrong Ladder
I am a retired teacher. After stepping away from the classroom, I took two years off—I became a life coach and homeschooled my kids during COVID.
Then reality hit. My husband and I sat down to evaluate our finances. Ouch. I needed to bring in income… immediately.
At that time, I remembered something Craig had once said: “You could NEVER work in a factory.” The challenge had been presented. The gauntlet was laid.I figured, well, I’ll be starting my coaching business soon, and I don’t want to take a temporary job where they’ll actually miss me when I leave. I need a job where I can walk away at a moment’s notice—no strings attached.
The big-box distribution center outside of town was my answer. I applied, got a tour, and was hired within a week. At first, the novelty was fun. I was driving a speedy forklift, trying to “make rate.” I was meeting new people and learning new systems. It was my first job outside of education or hospitality—ever.
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Unrecognized Growth
I’ve been out working since I was sixteen years old. The training process has always come easily to me. With each new employer, I enjoyed the beginner phase. There is always new learning and processes to add to my knowledge base. There was one situation that came to mind and it was one where I experienced tremendous growth. -
F*cked Up 59
I was listening to a podcast the other day, and the speaker shared a strategy for letting God/spirit/energy (pick your favorite cosmic force) guide you into the new year. Her technique? Write down 10 goals on December 20th, crumble them up, and put them aside. Each day afterward, you pull one out and burn it. By December 31st, you’re left with one goal—your “resolution” for the upcoming year.
Well, I thought, “I can’t do that because I’d just write the same thing on every slip of paper.” Honestly, I only want two things for the upcoming year: to start my Life Coaching practice again (and actually turn it into my career), and, hand in hand with that… to QUIT working as a retail manager!
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Antique Secretary
I was offered a part-time job in the school office in the early sixties during my senior year of high school. This job was being a secretary to the Superintendent of Schools. Then when I graduated I was offered this same job full-time. -
My Main Street Experience
In 1993 I left working in the furniture store and wanted something that would reward my time and pique my interest. I applied and was hired to work for the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation. Our main focus was the restoration and rebuilding of the downtown Columbus area. This program was a part of the Department of Commerce and the Wisconsin Main Street Program. -
A Bill Collector With Charm
During the summer of 1985, I attended a Leadership Training event organized by my church. This event took place just outside of Washington D.C. We participated in classes, events, and evangelism activities in the evenings and weekends. But during the day we all held full-time jobs–I was a bill collector.The minimum wage stood at approximately $3.25/hour, but we were encouraged to seek employment offering $4.00/hour.
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Waitressing Summers from Hell
During the summer of 1989, I decided that I needed to keep myself busy. I already had my waitressing job at Larson’s Family Restaurant, but thought “Why not get another job?!” Apparently, I was a glutton for punishment. -
Baffle Them With Bullshit
I was 25 years old when I started working at ExecuTrain as a computer trainer. I was tasked with teaching adults about how to use Windows, Microsoft products, and other such things. After working there for about 3 months, our network administrator left and my boss said, “Hey Michelle. You said you like technical things, right? Well, here’s our network. Take care of it!” -
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
I’m gonna be an artist when I grow up.
This is the answer I would have given to that age-old question that adults always ask children. I loved to make things out of paper and paint and wood and clay. I didn’t necessarily like coloring books, but I loved art materials. My first memory of Kindergarten is of making a scribble picture on construction paper and then coloring in the created spaces with crayons. -
Indecisive Decisions
The lack of a clear career path kept me from following through and going to college. At first, I wanted to be a clothing designer but I had none of the natural skills to make this work. I thought about being a veterinarian because I loved animals, but I couldn’t get excited about the necessary years of schooling. -
More Than a Secretary
Would you believe that while growing up I wanted to be a housewife and mother? I lived in a wonderful place with a group of stay-at-home moms and housewives. They made this sound like such a fulfilling, relaxing, and happy life. This was in the fifties and women that I knew didn’t work out of the home. We lived in an Ozzie and Harriet atmosphere. -
Computer Geek at Heart
When I was a little kid, I always wanted to be a teacher. I loved the idea of imparting my wisdom to others and knowing more about things than my students did. I always looked up to my teachers and wanted that admiration as well. As I got older, I decided there was no way I was going to be able to teach little kids. I love little kids, but their goofiness can get tiresome. Middle school kids are too hormone riddled to handle and high school kids are too close to adults and many show teachers no respect. So where did that leave me? -
Starting Over (One More Time!)
I thought my time for “starting over” had passed. That idea turned out not to be true. At the end of April, I went back to work. I decided to re-evaluate what I was doing. Retirement was great and yet I felt the need to fill some gaps. This time, I chose a completely new field. It was the right thing to do. My work was going well. It was time to stop the drain on my retirement funds and to add a new purpose to my life. -
Lean In to Mid-Life…
I quit my job, my career, that activity that defined me as a person for 30 years. Since I’m over 55, I guess that means that I’m “retired”.
But what DOES that mean? I was doing the responsible thing by sticking to my “chosen” path for so long. Retirement sounds like my grandma who played Canasta with the ladies every Tuesday afternoon.
For the last two decades, I’ve sacrificed my energy to a career that was dependable, reliable, and safe.
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Retirement Reality
My aha moment came many weeks, months, after my retirement last year. I realized it after 56 years of working as a paralegal/legal secretary for the same firm my boss retired and the office closed. It is hard to break old habits, like cleaning at night and on weekends, never having any free time without feeling guilty, and being able to have some free time for myself. My aha moment came when one day many months later I realized, while I was on a road trip with a friend, that I didn’t have any real-time constraints other than my family needing me to come back for things such as cleaning, cooking, driving grandkids around, you know, the usual. We were driving along and I thought aha, I am on my own at this moment and don’t have to go to work. No one was expecting me to get out a will, do divorce papers, real estate documents, correspondence, and the list goes on. -
I’ll Prove Them Wrong
I don’t remember ever being told that I needed to get a job, but when Lisa was 16, she had a job, therefore, because she was my hero, I had to also get a job at 16. It also followed, that because she worked at Larson’s Family Restaurant, that I had to work there as well. -
All Things Swimming – A Great First Job
When I was a little girl, I always wanted to swim well. I took lessons at the beach. I had to forge my permission slip and promise not to tell Dad because he was deathly afraid of drowning. I scraped my nose trying to dive and almost drown trying to tread water. This was not going well. -
Stuffing Beans is Not My Gig!
My first job taught me what I would never want to do for the rest of my life, or even a small part of it.