This is a tale of two girls—okay, make that two women—who are trying to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives. It’s the MidLife Reinvention version of What do I want to be when I grow up? One is an East Coaster; one is a West Coaster. One lives in a big city; the other a small town. I’m telling you all this so that you have some context, but this is definitely not a case of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse. Both women are smart, sophisticated, accomplished and still consider themselves mid-career.
Let’s call the big city girl Harmony Evans and the small town girl Burgandy Smith, for these are the names they gave themselves way back in the day when they were fixated on Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Harmony has had a successful career in advertising; Burgandy is a writer. They’ve challenged each other to create a document from which they can plot their respective future courses. This document will, for each, be an objective listing of strengths and where in their careers those strengths were exhibited.
This is not an easy thing to do, objectivity being what it is. Harmony has referenced her resume; Burgandy prefers a third person narrative. Either way, their aim is to have in front of themselves and each other, who they are, what they do, and in what direction do they want to move. In this way, each will have two people monitoring focus—and isn’t that what friends are for?
However, before they even get to the ends of these documents, another task comes up, an overview of what you could call their Overarching Goal. Harmony’s Overarching Goal has to do with finances: specifically, she wants to be working so as to earn enough to be able to make investments in the next five years or so that will create sufficient passive income for her to live on in the future. Burgandy’s Overarching Goal is that she wake up every morning looking forward to the work the day brings. It is here, with the stark difference in these Goals, that the two women look at each other and go, “Huh?”
