Re-Reading the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

"Nutkin made a whirring noise to sound like the wind, and he took a running jump right onto the head of Old Brown!"
Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.

One member of this isolated community is an entertainer, a poet, and a story-teller. His skills are very different from the others in his circle. He faces ridicule, danger, and loss of half his tail while trying to live life being true to himself. Here are a few life lessons gained from this charming tale about a red squirrel.

Lesson One
The golden rule states that whoever has the gold makes the rules.

Most people have lives that are divided between time on the job and free time. The job is so central to modern thinking that normal expressions include: before work, after work, outside of work, and work week. Employment involves trading personal time and effort in exchange for money. Employment also includes accepting the rules and restrictions of the person managing the continued access to a paycheck. Upsetting the boss is grounds for dismissal. Proper etiquette is as essential as having the required job skills.

Lesson Two
There is an important difference between a vocation and an avocation.

People work (vocation) to acquire the money to do the things they enjoy (avocation). It would be wonderful if people enjoyed their work. If you enjoy what you do, it doesn't seem like work. Children are often asked what they want to be when they grow up. But children have a limited frame of reference and sometimes enter college not knowing what they want to do. When the perfect job is unavailable, unattainable, or unpaid, people settle for the job they can get. Life is what happens instead of what was planned.

Some colleges now offer self-assessment or career planning classes. The following course description from the University of California, Berkeley states, "The first step in career planning on campus involves self assessment or learning more about yourself - your likes, values, skills and personal preferences. Engaging in self-assessment exercises can help you identify and understand aspects of your personality that are important to your career satisfaction."

Here is a quote from the English novelist George Eliot, "It's never too late to be who you might have been."

Lesson Three
Always have an exit strategy.

An exit strategy is the plan for what to do next. It describes when and how the investments will be sold. It defines at what point troops will be withdrawn and how control will be turned over to the next authority. An exit strategy is the ready-to-go plan for evacuating the family in an emergency or for sheltering in place. It is the savings plan that will accommodate a comfortable retirement. It is the up-to-date resume and network of people to contact when faced with a job loss. An exit strategy is having an extra set of keys to the car or the house. It is the opposite of painting yourself into a corner.

Having a workable exit strategy means the current situation can change without unnecessary stress or loss.