Handsomer Than She Was

I am a HUGE Jane Austen fan. Her words, her insights, the way she tackles relationships and provides insights that apply even in our modern day world, she was an incredible author. So to be able to use her words in a piece for myself was exciting. The mat is made with handmade papers from Japan combined with papers I created in my studio. I plan to hang this in my dressing room. I used these words to remind me that the woman I am today is handsomer today than I was ten years ago.

Time passes quickly in this life, faster than we care to know. When you look back five, ten even twenty years from today the changes are obvious. The lessons learned and used to progress seem obvious. Do you remember what it was like to be you ten years ago? What advice would you give your younger self? What lessons have you learned and how have you changed as a result of those lessons? And how does that extrapolate to you ten years in the future? Our lives do not get better with age if we do not take the time to reflect, learn and change. To be handsomer today than we were ten years ago the hard life learned lessons need to be applied and applied well.

No matter who you are or where and what you have experienced, life changes over time. Experience changes us and how we look at things. Sometimes we get better and sometimes we grow tired, either way we choose how we want to be even if time, our bodies and our minds work against us. Sure we can focus on the past of who we used to be and live our current life on our past laurels. That eventually grows old and tiresome. The wiser choice is to accept who we are today – in appearace, wisdom, activity level, physique – and make each day the best we can. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, so let us take the best we are, admire and appreciate everything we have and do, and move forward as our genuine selves.