Last November, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Geraldo Rivera quit his job as a CNBC talk show host, switched to Fox News and took off for Afghanistan.
The horrifying events forced Rivera to think hard about what he does for a living, he said. And he’s not alone: Many others since then have re-evaluated what really matters in their lives and careers.
Rivera was fortunate. He didn’t have to put off doing what he really wanted to do. But it’s usually not that easy to move so quickly: Making change frequently means long-term planning.
Especially for women.
“Women and men were affected the same by the events of Sept. 11, but it takes women longer to make reasoned new choices–they have to reassess their values more diligently because they have to juggle things more than men,” said Christine Mockler Casper of Methuen, Mass., author of “From Now On with Passion: A guide to emotional intelligence” (Cypress House, $17.95).
Casper is founder and president of Communication, Motivation & Management Inc., a business consulting and skills training firm.
Deborah Baker, a graduate student at Northwestern University’s school of education and social policy, observes that “it’s very nice that Rivera could pick up and go–maybe he didn’t have requirements at home–but that’s not an option for me.”
Her plan to design online training programs for professional development will take longer to come true.
“It was the classic turning 40 years old five years ago when I already had a bachelor’s degree, had worked in the publishing industry and owned my own business–I realized it would be beneficial to have some recent credentials,” Baker said.
She and her husband, Warren, an attorney, have two children, ages 15 and 12.
“My family had been my first priority, but now my younger child is in sixth grade.”
Her progress is purposeful: Last year, Baker worked for a technical company and became computer literate.
She is working toward her master’s degree and currently is a research assistant.
“I have to retool for long-term success and bridge more than a decade to make my re-entry successful,” Baker said. “And that takes time. Sept. 11 further consolidated my plans to get ready for the next 25 years.”
Before Sept. 11, Donna Crosson, an administrative assistant at Unisys Corp., a global information technology firm based in Blue Bell, Pa., was “taking a few credits a semester to get a business degree.” Crosson, whose husband, Larry, is a bakery worker, had begun work toward her degree in 1989 but stopped after a few years.
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“I went back in 2001, going two nights a week, but after Sept. 11, I doubled up on my courses and will get my degree a year earlier,” said the assistant, who now also does volunteer work.
” I realized that in an instant you can be here and then be gone,” she said. “I felt I really wasn’t accomplishing anything and didn’t want to go to my grave vegetating. “
Crosson says when she sees “the balance of [college] credits I have to get going down, down, down, I feel I’m doing something–in capital letters!”
But some dreams must be deferred. Monica Romein-Bowles is a certified ophthalmic technician. A clinical manager at Kraff Eye Institute in Chicago, she has wanted to be an optometrist since 1993.
“It will take me five years–I might have to go full time–but I can’t afford to quit my job, which I love,” said Romein-Bowles, who is divorced and has four children.
“My kids are supportive and want me to go for it, but I can’t do that to them,” she said.
She tried to stop thinking about becoming an optometrist, but Sept. 11, she says, “made me realize life is short and you never know what’s going to happen. So I thoroughly investigated going to school, even though I can’t do it now.”
The technician is disappointed. “My balloon has burst and I’m not getting younger,” said Romein-Bowles, who is 37. “But I plan to hold on to the dream, even if I can’t do anything about it right now.”
And that’s the stuff that dreams are made of.