Daily Mood Quote
Day 234 – January 8, 2012
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
~Anne Frank
Yesterday, I went grocery shopping at a local store and as I passed two men talking on my way to get some milk, I heard one gentlemen tell an acquaintance he had been unemployed for four years and wasn't sure what he was going to do anymore. For a brief moment, I understood and empathized with the gentlemen and I even took a few moments to talk with him and his friend. Maybe, because I didn't want him to feel singled out, or alone because I too have been unemployed for two and a half years and my husband for a year an a half. There is comfort in numbers I guess. Some interesting things I noticed, we were all easily over the age of 45, all experienced (over-experienced in the eyes of today's society), beyond the age where people would want to hire us. This empathy lasted for only a short period of time, because I realized something during a conversation with my husband on our way home. We are/were all looking for the same old stuff. What is the same old stuff, you ask? Well let me explain.
The same old stuff is what we once were, the jobs we once had and what we once enjoyed doing. I suppose that's natural, to want to drop back into our comfort zone where things seemed “good.” Unfortunately, we can't keep living in the past, it's what we do now and tomorrow that counts. It's a basic lesson from Life on Earth 101; failure to evolve will result in extinction, as in people who refuse to adapt and move on, may never be gainfully employed again. That's just the way it is.
Let's face it, if you haven't work in a field in four years, it's well past time to find another field. Julian Michaels said, “Transformation is not five minutes from now; it's a present activity. In this moment you can make a different choice, and it's these small choices and successes that build up over time to help cultivate a healthy self-image and self-esteem.” Now, I know she is the “fitness guru,” and a product of our culture's myopic views on age and beauty (I still believe we need to fix that), but as I have stated. “What is true and good, no matter the source”.... and if we think about this from an attitudinal perspective, it applies. We have to change, grow, transform and evolve all the time, just as the world is changing and failure to do has dire and regretful results.
My husband says that men sometimes have a harder time making that adjustment than women. He isn't being discriminatory, or offering any excuses. It's just the facts. You really never hear songs by women harkening back to the “Glory Days” Thanks Bruce Springsteen or “The Summer of 69” Thanks Bryan Adams. My husband has also had a tough time altering his self-image to catch up to the things he's already doing, analysis and writing. He also concedes that he's not sure if it's culture, or genetics that drive that behavior; it just is. And, it's a nasty little trap that men build for themselves. Maybe women needed to be more adaptable in this area, due to the fact that we (women) needed to be the caregivers and had to continue to tend to the children, after the men had been mowed down by a woolly mammoth; so it makes sense in a species survival kind of way. I'm not sure, but the evidence seems to be there.
Anyway, we all need to adjust our vision of who we are from time to time, to incorporate the realities of where we are in time and space. That includes occupations and avocations. Please understand I am not putting anyone down or belittling anyone. I'm just saying that if your a man, or a woman and you had been doing one thing for years and years and you no longer are doing that, then maybe it's time to reevaluate your skills, update them and seek success elsewhere. Look at me, I have been a mom for 27 years and I love being a mom, it is who I am and what I have loved doing my whole life (since I was 20), in a few short years, all of my children will be off to college, married, chasing a career and living life. I will fall in the category of “empty-nesters.” So, I have now spent nearly 6 years in college to get a current education in the business world, first my Bachelors, now my Master's Degree. When the time comes to go to work full-time outside the home, instead of inside caring for children, I will be ready. Anything's possible!
In the movie 17 Again with Zac Efron and Matthew Perry, the Janitor (played by Brian Doyle-Murray) said to Matthew Perry (Mike O'Donnell) “High school star, never quite lived up to your potential. Sooner or later you all come back to your old school, stand there and look at the picture of the glory days wondering "What might have been." Seems to me you guys are living in the past.” Mike O'Donnell replied with “Well, of course I wanna live in the past. It was better there...” He already achieved what he wanted, or so he thought; He was on top, then life through him a curve ball....good story, great message. Simply put, it's about moving on, not holding on to what once was. Frances Moore Lappé, said, “I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I am a dyed-in-the-wool possibilist! I mean with an eco-mind, we see that everything's connected and change is the only constant.” I too am a possibilist and believe if we had it once, we can have it again, we just need to evolve and make it better. Possibilities are endless if only you seek them out and try.
How will you “move-on” today?
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote
Thank you for reading
