If "who we are" is defined by which jobs we've had; if our biography is a list of the work we've done and the places we've been and the people we've met, and if each of those things is like a item of clothing-- a little worn, a little soiled, not-quite-new, -- then my life looks a lot like a whole hamper-full of laundry.
I started a list once trying to itemize the jobs I've held. I intentionally left off stuff like "bag-boy at Safeway" because that was one of a whole sub-genre of kid-jobs I held back in my youth.
And I left off stuff that I didn't do for long enough to consider it a "real" job. And if I didn't make any money at it, I left it off because it really had to be considered a hobby.
So then I had this list:
Radio announcer/DJ
Drummer, rock band
Air Force pilot
New-home salesman
Commercial Real estate broker
Real estate developer
Finance manager- car dealership
Airline Pilot-major airline: Captain, Boeing 737
Flight Operations Coordinator-major airline
Record producer and music publisher
If I were a human resources kinda person, I KNOW I wouldn't likely hire someone who came in with a resume that looked like that. The olde biography is...umm...muddled and inconsistent. Sounds a lot like a guy can't keep a job.
But, notwithstanding all that, it has given me a rather expansive bucket of subject-matter, and I've always been a writer.
Thanks for looking in.
Apologies for the aroma of dirty laundry.