My Eclactic Career (An Almost Re-Invention)

For the 40+ years I worked full time, my job path could be kindly characterized as eclectic. A less kind description? Erratic, albeit stable. I went from briefly being a 5th grade teacher to a few iterations of self-employment (musician, small business owner) to five years in retail and then government. In my 20's I loosely thought of music as my career. I was almost 50 before the word career felt as though it applied to me again.

Using Oprah-speak, I could claim to have "re-invented" myself several times. I heard myself using that phrase today in a conversation to re-assure a young person who feels a little un-moored vocationally. But re-inventing strikes me as implying purposeful career decisions; I feel a bit disingenuous using the expression to describe myself. Eclectic or erratic seem more accurate. Or, somewhere in between - "eclactic" anyone?

And you? How much of yourself do you recognize in my story, present or future tense? Or is my story so far from your experience or values that you have trouble relating at all? If you're a parent of young working adults, how comfortable are you with the possibility that your children may re-invent themselves several times over their working lives? If you're an adult, young or otherwise and on a career path of any kind, how close are you to re-inventing yourself?