Women hold 77% of these "very 21st century" jobs. What kind of job is it? @Kristi Rieke

👵When you reach middle age, there’s a common misconception that you have less—less life ahead of you, less energy, fewer opportunities and perhaps fewer resources to build a comfortable future. 👵In today’s workplace, an experienced person may even feel more replaceable than someone younger. But you have something nobody talks about enough: 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. 🤔Think of Robert De Niro’s character, Ben, in 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻. He enters a modern company believing he has little to offer, yet his wisdom, patience and ability to understand people make him an 𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿 for the entire organization—and one of the most valuable people in the room. 👵Maybe you’ve lost your job. Maybe you need to supplement your income. Or perhaps you’re ready for a new chapter. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱. It’s knowledge, judgment and resilience earned over decades—and it’s an asset you can monetize whenever you decide to use it.

That question can feel impossible to answer when the reaction happens before we’ve even had time to think. Someone questions a decision and suddenly we’re three sentences into explaining why we made it. A team member sends a short reply and our fingers are already typing a much longer one to make sure they understand exactly what we meant. Someone disagrees with an idea we were excited about and we can feel ourselves pulling back from it before we’ve even decided whether their opinion matters. A conversation takes an unexpected turn and suddenly we’re defending something nobody actually asked us to defend. Then, five minutes later… Why did that bother me so much? Why did I feel like I had to explain myself? Why do I keep reacting this way? Those are interesting questions because a reaction isn’t an identity. The ways we learned to respond to life can follow us into our relationships, leadership and businesses without changing who God created us to be. So maybe the first step toward responding differently isn’t trying harder to control ourselves the next time it happens. Maybe it’s noticing the moment our reaction became bigger than the moment in front of us and getting curious about what just surfaced. That reaction can give us information. Something got touched. Something worth paying attention to. Something we can bring to Holy Spirit and ask what He wants us to see there, rather than allowing that reaction to tell us who we are. That distinction has become incredibly important to me: What happened along the way can affect how we respond without changing who God created us to be. If this was a reminder you needed today, leave a ❤️ below.

If you could solve just one problem with your money, what would it be?

For over a year now, I’ve had the blessing of starting my mornings by sharing motivational, inspirational, and faith filled posts with all of you. While I’ve been off work recovering from shoulder and bicep surgery, these posts have become an important part of my morning routine. I’ve enjoyed opening God’s Word, spending time in prayer, and sharing something that I hoped might encourage someone else along the way. During this time, I’ve also been working extremely hard on my online business. My goal was to build it enough that when my recovery was over, I wouldn’t have to return to my factory job. I can truly say I gave it everything I had. I’ve worked on my business every day, often 8 to 10 hours a day, learning, building, creating, and trying to move closer to that goal. But things haven’t happened according to my timeline. I’ll soon be returning to my factory job. Of course, that wasn’t what I had hoped for. But I’m learning that sometimes God’s plans and His timing look different from ours. 📖 “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 ESV And even though one door hasn’t opened the way I expected, I believe God is already opening another. I’ve recently become part of a new community and found a new way of learning how to build my business and grow my brand. I’m excited about this new direction, and this is where I’ll be putting my focus now and moving forward. I still believe God has a purpose for me in the make money online space. I don’t know exactly when everything will come together or what the journey will look like, but I’m going to keep working, keep learning, keep building, and most importantly, keep trusting God to direct my steps. Returning to work also means my time is going to look very different. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to make these morning posts every day like I have for more than a year. And that may be one of the things I’ll miss the most. My prayer is that these posts have never just been words scrolling across your screen.