Sam and I notice that Jane Pauley has a new book out titled Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life. You remember Jane - a former Today talk show host? Jane says many of us have the opportunity to “re-imagine” our lives more than once because we are living longer than we used to.
Jane says : You don’t have to get it right the first time; there is no most authentic “you” waiting to be revealed; reimagining yourself doesn’t mean a total makeover; you don’t need to have a passion for something; and trial and error are keys to growth.
I like Jane’s assertion that there is no authentic “you” waiting to be revealed. I can’t tell you how many people wonder what God’s calling is for them and totally miss the point of why they’re even alive. I also like that Jane says you don’t have to have a passion for something. People make you feel like a failure if you don’t passionately want to do something with your life. I admit that people who achieve true greatness may very well have a passion they pursue relentlessly, thus achieving what most of us can only dream about. Still . . .
I don’t know if I can call it re-imagining myself or a passion, but lately I have developed a keen interest in engaging people in conversation, much like Jane used to do; maybe because I grew up in a family of seven kids and was raised not to speak unless spoken to. I find it fascinating to sit down with someone and learn who they are and what makes them tick.
For example, I had a new crown fitted at the dentist yesterday and I had a fun and interesting conversation with the dental assistant. We talked about several things then the subject of spiders came up and she revealed to me how much she loathed spiders. The dental assistant said if she saw a spider crawling around the treatment room, she would call the dentist to kill it because she was just too squeamish.
I think I’ve been reimagining myself in the image of my late grandfather who could and would talk to just about anybody, anywhere, anytime. I always admired him for that and I learned that it’s okay to open up a conversation with someone. It’s fun!
In my lifetime I’ve been a grocery clerk, mailman, sawmill worker, policeman, real estate agent, restaurant cook, writer and editor, business owner and more. I always enjoyed the conversations I had with people when I worked at those occupations. Good luck getting anybody to have a genuine conversation with you when you’re a cop though. All that authority gets in the way.
I don’t know if I’ll ever totally be what I wanted to grow up to be because I didn’t really want to be anything in particular (well, maybe a cowboy). But I’ve always been at least a B to B+ kind of guy and maybe someday I’ll achieve an A if I keep reimagining.
Two wags of Sam’s tail to that!
Jane says : You don’t have to get it right the first time; there is no most authentic “you” waiting to be revealed; reimagining yourself doesn’t mean a total makeover; you don’t need to have a passion for something; and trial and error are keys to growth.
I like Jane’s assertion that there is no authentic “you” waiting to be revealed. I can’t tell you how many people wonder what God’s calling is for them and totally miss the point of why they’re even alive. I also like that Jane says you don’t have to have a passion for something. People make you feel like a failure if you don’t passionately want to do something with your life. I admit that people who achieve true greatness may very well have a passion they pursue relentlessly, thus achieving what most of us can only dream about. Still . . .
I don’t know if I can call it re-imagining myself or a passion, but lately I have developed a keen interest in engaging people in conversation, much like Jane used to do; maybe because I grew up in a family of seven kids and was raised not to speak unless spoken to. I find it fascinating to sit down with someone and learn who they are and what makes them tick.
For example, I had a new crown fitted at the dentist yesterday and I had a fun and interesting conversation with the dental assistant. We talked about several things then the subject of spiders came up and she revealed to me how much she loathed spiders. The dental assistant said if she saw a spider crawling around the treatment room, she would call the dentist to kill it because she was just too squeamish.
I think I’ve been reimagining myself in the image of my late grandfather who could and would talk to just about anybody, anywhere, anytime. I always admired him for that and I learned that it’s okay to open up a conversation with someone. It’s fun!
In my lifetime I’ve been a grocery clerk, mailman, sawmill worker, policeman, real estate agent, restaurant cook, writer and editor, business owner and more. I always enjoyed the conversations I had with people when I worked at those occupations. Good luck getting anybody to have a genuine conversation with you when you’re a cop though. All that authority gets in the way.
I don’t know if I’ll ever totally be what I wanted to grow up to be because I didn’t really want to be anything in particular (well, maybe a cowboy). But I’ve always been at least a B to B+ kind of guy and maybe someday I’ll achieve an A if I keep reimagining.
Two wags of Sam’s tail to that!
No comments:
Post a Comment