I spoke to woman today who finds herself reinventing her future. Her kids are off to college and she will soon be an empty nester. Time will be her friend, she can do things she has not done in years, AND as she said, “I don’t have to make any more peanut butter sandwiches.” Her life is taking a new path and she is thinking long and hard about what that looks like.
I spoke to a man who is facing early retirement and wonders what he does now. He has put so many things on hold that he isn’t quite sure where to start. He had many things he “used to do” and is not sure if he goes back to those things, or tries something new?
Both of these bright, talented people are facing the days we all hope to get to…the ones where we have options of our own choosing. I like these words from Tina Fey. She reminds us that our THING is our thing, no one else has to give us permission to do it, nor do they have to like it. Not from a militant perspective, from a hopeful being true to ourselves point of view. There comes a time in all our lives – not just as we get older – when we have to do what we do best no matter what other people think. Because if we don’t, we are squandering the talents and gifts we have been given because we are worried about what other people will think.
Really? Is that how we want to live our lives? Fearful of being criticized? Afraid of not fitting in? Of not being accepted? Tortured by what we think other people think, when in reality they are also scared about what we think!!! It is a never ending cycle of guessing games, speculation and self depravation in the pursuit of an elusive positive opinion.
It is time to let our own good opinion of ourselves be the marker by which we measure our own success. Finding our thing, doing our thing, THAT is the only sure way to find success and personal fulfillment. So go out there and find your thing, and do it will all your might! Who cares what other people think. (They are probably watching you succeed and wishing they had those same guts!)
Ann Art Gallery Blog 