This is a hat store at Ponce City Market in downtown Atlanta. What I love is that it was crowded with patrons buying hats. People having fun trying on different options – fun, festive, formal, sophisticated. Everyone had a smile on their face and was enjoying the shop, the hats, the experience. The employees were helpful and fun, inviting and truly cooperative. If you are looking for a hat in Atlanta, this is the place to shop.
The shop made me think about all the different hats we wear everyday. Parent, child, spouse, friend, employee, owner, artist, coordinator, organizer, planner, implementer, cook, cleaner, team member, facilitator…and the list could go on and on. The number of hats we wear is only limited by our own choices. Choices that we actively choose and choices that are thrust upon us. I have a friend who had a grandparent pass away, and they were the one designated to take care of ‘things’ around that new circumstance. It has taken her months to handle it all, and some of the new hats were overwhelming. Some she was used to – cleaner, organizer, coordinator, grandchild. Other hats were new to her repertoire- funeral planner, estate disposal, family representative, bank account closer. She has learned a great deal, and yet hopes she does not have to utilize her new found knowledge anytime soon.
I have another friend who had her first child, talk about new hats – mother, parent, diaper changer, burper, child care provider. She is enjoying the additional hats and sees where some of her old hats have changed. She moved from being a couple to being parents, from being a child to now also being a role model. What was a couple now includes parenthood and protector. And as their son grows up they will add the hats of negotiator, teenager handler, grandparent handler, education coordinator, puberty survivor, education partner, and the list goes on. Adding someone to your life changes so many hats.
Sometimes the hats we wear themselves change. We move from a simple, clean hat early in life to a sophisticated, elaborate hat as an adult. We will always be a child as long as our parents are live, yet as we grow the hat we wear takes a different form. It moves from a passive form to an active contributor, from one we are given to wear to one we choose to wear. Our hat not only reflects our personality but the relationship we have with our parent. Some parents allow our hat to change as we grow up, others still treat us like children and can only deal with the hat they gave us to wear. They do not know how to deal with the new hat we have chosen to employ as an adult child. Who knew that changing hats could cause conflict, challenges, disruption and maybe even disconnection.
The hats we wear tell people about us, tell us about ourlseves, and allow us to move in and out of the cycle of life. When you look at the hats you wear, which ones do you want to spruce up? And which do you want to retire? Are there new hats you have been wanting to try on? Or hats you have always wanted to own? What is preventing you from trying out a new hat? What is preventing you from getting rid of an old hat? Maybe it’s time for Spring cleaning and time to give up a hat or two to let someone else enjoy it moving forwrad.
As you go through your day, think about the hats you wear and how the people in your life expect you to behave because of the hat. Is it time for the hat to change into a new form? Is it time for that hat to be put in storage? Maybe it is time for someone else to wear that hat? No matter which way it is, being aware of your hats and the role you play while wearing it simply gives you more insight into your own world. Hats off to hats!
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