{"id":3471,"date":"2014-10-24T19:43:36","date_gmt":"2014-10-25T02:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shawnna.org\/?p=3471"},"modified":"2014-10-24T19:43:36","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T02:43:36","slug":"purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/?p=3471","title":{"rendered":"Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

After being laid off a year ago<\/a>, I knew I was at a cross-road.\u00a0 I initially focused on getting the health care I needed before my insurance ended.\u00a0 Then I dedicated myself to finding meaningful work.<\/p>\n

Frightened of what may come, I struggled to make the house payment using what little savings I had.\u00a0 I went through waves of overwhelming fear and depression.\u00a0 Who hires a 59 year old woman in this economy???<\/p>\n

Recognizing the opportunity in front of me, I submitted my application to volunteer at Evergreen Hospice while also looking for work full time.\u00a0 I went to the hospice volunteer interview and completed the health requirements (which were extensive).<\/p>\n

Having lost my only brother<\/a> at a very young age and both parents a while ago, I knew that coming to terms with my mortality was important for my spiritual growth.<\/p>\n

After about four months of being unemployed, I accepted a local offer for a good position.\u00a0 Feeling relieved and glad to get back to work, I planned a short solo road trip retreat.<\/p>\n

Then my life took an even harsher turn.\u00a0 My only nephew overdosed and died<\/a> in early February 2014.\u00a0 Three months later, my only sister died<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I had just started my new job so I postponed my hospice volunteer training.\u00a0 Then I had to postpone it again when work required 60 hours each week.\u00a0 I also needed to get probate going and fulfill my sister’s last wishes.<\/p>\n

Today I finally went to Day One of my hospice volunteer training and I felt emotionally overwhelmed.\u00a0 It felt like I belonged and had come home.\u00a0 A full day tomorrow and then again next Saturday and I’ll be ready to begin my one year volunteer commitment.<\/p>\n

Doing this is my purpose.\u00a0 I can’t begin to explain the intensity of finally knowing my post-child raising path.<\/p>\n

Feeling blessed beyond imagination.<\/p>\n

\"Blessed\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After being laid off a year ago, I knew I was at a cross-road.\u00a0 I initially focused on getting the health care I needed before my insurance ended.\u00a0 Then I dedicated myself to finding meaningful work. Frightened of what may …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hospice","category-spiritual-journey"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3476,"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471\/revisions\/3476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shawnna.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}