Our 18-month-old grandson is learning new words.
He’ll hold up one thing after another and asks “This? And this?” He doesn’t remember all the names of things yet.
But one day he’ll get it and have a whole new way of being in the world. Thanks to all that work and repetition and help along the way.
Nothing short of AWESOME.
Pepper and certain other spices send my sinuses into spasms. I’ve developed an allergy to them.
I need to avoid them. But I don’t always. The temptation to enjoy them has not been fully tempered. Yet.
I’m working on it.
What are you working on?
Something happened to my bathroom mirror around the time I turned sixty. The face of an older
guy began showing up. He came every morning. Even with one eye closed, I’d couldn’t replace
him with the younger one. The one I was. I didn’t want to be that guy with the gray hair and
blemishes?
Acceptance didn’t come easy or fast. It came as one of those self-realization experiences. The
ones in which you accept a new reality. I’ve found that it’s rather enjoyable being the guy in the
mirror. The one I am.
Who’s in your mirror these days?
“I knew who I was when I was a prosecuting attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, but now, when people ask what I do, I draw a blank. I feel like I need to be somebody, and retired is not it.”
When you retire, you leave an old identity behind. Who do you become then?
Jerome eventually recreated a fulfilling lifestyle that included volunteering as a legal consultant.
But he had to grieve the loss of who he was before he could envision exciting new possibilities.
Are you stuck in old thinking? If so, what’s one a small step you could toward a more exciting
future?
Will you be a post-pandemic creation? Or the same old you?
The world will never the same. Maybe we shouldn’t either.
Jason has learned to bake. His cookies are hot items at the Farmers Market.
Sally’s hand-knitted prayer shawls give comfort and warmth to those going through difficult times.
John’s begun developing and teaching world history courses through three different university life-long learning programs.
What new roles will become part of the new you?