Finding my passion, which is song writing, opened me up to more and more positive viewpoints. The more you're open to positive viewpoints, the more you can see and the more you can see the positive in everything.

Taking actuarial exams for 20 years really stunted my growth as a human. Being an actuary in the most traditional sense is not nearly as much of who I am as a song writer. So the time I spent studying for exams was time taken away from my life. I think that may be one thing that helps me see things better now.

I became an actuary because I wanted to do the hardest thing that would most impress people. And then I spent the next 20 years feeling like I needed validation from other people from having made that decision. But I feel that I have success now because I know that my life is how I choose it to be and I revel in that knowledge. I feel like I have the power to define my life. Success is realizing that you have that power and being happy about it and continuing to channel your energy into that journey.

I feel blessed that my husband and I share that dream. I think that's quite rare. We've been married for 22 years and we just went into business together last year. I really think it has made our marriage stronger and happier because it's been a way for both of us to achieve a goal that we wanted. We both really believe in the service we provide to the animals and even better we agree on the philosophy of the type of hospital that we want; high-tech sophisticated hospital that provides really good care, but also is very caring and nurturing environment. We don't compete in the roles we play. Our talents compliment each other well, but the vision is the same.

My husband has always wanted to be a veterinarian. In fact a year into it he said, "Jennifer, this is the way I always dreamed it would be." I was jealous of him for a long time that he knew since he was five years old that he knew what he wanted to do. He had some obstacles to overcome towards meeting that goal, but he had a passion. I thought life was good and there were a lot of things I could do well, but until I discovered song writing, I never knew what that was like. Now I do.

I was 45 years old when I discovered my passion. However looking back, I can see there where a lot of things that created a situation such that at 45 I could step back. I was fortunate that my parents were very supportive when we were growing up. They didn't push me into a certain career. Although my father really, really wanted me go to medical school, but other than that, they encouraged every interest that I expressed. I took guitar and organ and piano and violin lessons when I was younger. I took art lessons and sewing lessons. When I decided to be an exchange student, they supported that. That was hard for them to do, to send a 17 year old off to live with another family in another country.

So I'm glad they encouraged me to follow every interest that I had, but also I exercised the discipline when I did try those things. I practiced the piano and organ and guitar. I did a lot of sewing. I made all my clothes in high school. I think it's important to realize that no matter what your passion is, you'll get more out of it if you exercise the discipline to learn from other people and do research and investigate. If it's something that you really love it doesn't seem like work.

For example, every hour that I spent studying for actuarial exams seemed like work and took me away from what I wanted to do. Although I was glad that it had a positive effect on my career and that was important to me and certainly money is important, but when I compare the time I spent studying for exams with how I felt when I was practicing piano or sewing or reading books in French, those activities were much more enjoyable to me. But I felt that if I wanted to make money and advance in a career I would have to take this time away from my real life. Now I realize that you can have both.

An important element in finding your passion is to stop turning off the messages that your inner self is trying to tell you. I knew that I loved music and language and art and I forced myself to ignore it. So I think the most important things in your life are right there under your nose, but we work so hard to not know it. I think that's all a part of the path. I think of part of the path as opening yourself to see the energy that's available and around you. If you try to turn off those things you create to block you from your path and decide to go with the flow more, then many important things are easy to see. I guess for me the art of finding important things is to quit trying so hard not to find them.

I've had some lows, but I'm a Type A person who is driven to succeed. If I'm low or lost, I revert to that automatic to achieve, achieve, achieve. I think that has been good for me at times. There were years I wasn't advancing as a human because I was always studying and working at my job. But that put me in a much better financial position now. Perhaps if I hadn't done that I wouldn't have been ready earlier to do the things that I'm doing now. I have something to show for those years. By putting 22 years into the insurance industry means that now I have a nice job that can finance these other paths.

When I look back at all the things I've done and the choices I've made, the only moments that stick out as moments of regret are times when I was unkind. I think that if you don't step on other people's toes and you can find love in your heart for everyone, then there are no bad choices. I think things you try and find out you don't like, help you figure out more what you do like. Who knows I may come up with a new passion. I mean if I was 45 when I figured out I should be a song writer, how will I know at 55. My father gave me good advice about choosing a career. He said, "Study the subjects that you really love and you will find a path that makes sense to you." That's what's has happened to me. I'm a song writing, hospital administrating, actuary. Who'd have thought?