Read like a resume writer

Photo by db photographs

I’ve been a reader all of my life, developing a love of reading from my mother I would guess. Writing followed as soon as I grasped the concept of putting words together.

When I was younger than the girl in this picture above, I  found toasty warm spots to read, scrunched in a spot next to the furnace vent and on the sun shiny corner spot on the back steps in the summer. Before I entered 8th grade, I asked to be allowed to check out books in the “adult” part of the library. I guess I figured I had read everything interesting in the children’s library.

I started reading fiction again. The series I am reading is a Guideposts series my mom loaned me called Tales of Grace Chapel Inn. Three sisters launch a bed and breakfast in the house they grew up in next door to the church their late father pastored in a fictional town, Acorn Hill, Pennsylvania. The sisters are not spring chickens, the oldest is 65 and the youngest is in her 50s.

Alice is the never married sister who stayed with her father throughout his aging years. Appropriately, she is a nurse. Louise and Jane return home to help keep the house in the family. Louise is the oldest who is a talented musician and was classically trained, most recently living in Philadelphia. Her husband died of cancer and she is ready to start life over. Jane, the youngest, is a talented chef and lived in San Francisco but after a bitter divorce comes home to create the breakfasts for the inn.

Every book has a number of problems to solve and characters who need direction and help. I find myself drawn in by how the characters handle the challenges, how they create innovative solutions, and how they mediate problems.

As I was reading this morning, I realized this morning how much the way I read these books is like what I do with clients. Sifting for the stories, hearing the successes they have experienced in the challenges that have faced them, and marveling at the creativity some have used to solve problems.

I rejoice with the sisters, who could all decide to retire to spend their days rocking on the front porch, instead they launch a new business. I am encouraged. One of my clients is 71. He’s looking at a potential opportunity to instruct at a college using his background in the workforce to share with students who want to learn about his subject matter. He’s not going to sit on the porch rocking either.

There are no limits when you view life as a challenge. Perhaps that is why I am reading fiction again. I want to be inspired by people who take on life and conquer it. How about you?