Reinventing oneself - the real challenge in living

Wasn’t it Mark Twain who said, “I’ve met too many people who died at the age of 45, but hung around until they were 70 to be buried”? I like the sign that use to be posted on the highway to Alaska – before pavement – “choose your rut carefully because you will be in it for the next 250 miles.” I don’t know about you, but for me I want to live as long as I am alive … and living doesn’t mean doing the same thing day-after-day, week-after-week … living is not staying in the same rut even for just one year. Trying new things, changing how one thinks, making new discovers about oneself and the world that surrounds us … it is just reinventing oneself.

It is so easy to get into a “routine” that life becomes predictable and often boring. Reinventing oneself is kind of a challenge the older we get. Oh, we have spent a lifetime reinventing ourselves. Every time we changed jobs or for us preachers, moved to a new assignment, we reinvented ourselves. Every time we moved into a different community we reinvented ourselves. Every time we had a child, grandchild, great-grandchild we reinvented ourselves. Every time that child moved from one phase to another or changed schools we reinvented ourselves. We were constantly adding new people to our lives, discarding others, taking on new responsibilities, trying a different approach to old problems … you name it, but we were in a constant state of reinventing ourselves. Yet, as we get older, familiar patterns, predictable relationships, habits of daily existence becomes our comfort zone …and we start dieing a little at a time, moment-by-moment, second-by-second.

Our choice is either to stagnating or to reinvent ourselves. Maybe that is why I jumped out of a plane at 13,000 feet at the ripe age of 65 in a tandem skydive. Was it something that I would normally have done? No. Would I do it again? You betcha’! Recently, I took on the responsibility of a part-time job at our local Carmike Theatre. Did I do it because we needed the extra income? No. Is it a challenge for my feet and back? Definitely. Am I exhausted? Yes. Will I do it for a long period of time? Probably not, but it is fun and slightly challenging. Learning something new and different; exposing myself to different individuals and different viewpoints of life (nearly everybody I work with could be either my children or my grandchildren); taking on a challenge to reinvent myself … we either stagnate or reinvent ourselves. Everybody thinks I’m a little nuts … and they probably are correct … but, hey, why not!

Changing the course we are on in life is always a little scary. As we added a contemporary worship service at my DeLand church an 82-year old gentle lady became one of its biggest supporters. When asked why by her friends that she has gotten involved, she replied, “Why not! I’m just tired of worshipping the same old way that I’ve worshipped for the last 75 years. It is time to change!” She wasn’t going to stagnate! There is a lady at my present church, Ruth T., that reminds me a whole lot of that DeLand lady. Ruth’s response to her old friends who complain about one thing or another that we are doing at church is simply to call them, “Old fuddy-duddies. We either have to change or we die.” I like Ruth’s thinking.

The one thing that both of these ladies teach me is you are never too old or too set in your ways to reinvent yourself! Praise the Lord for individuals who are willing to take the chance to move in a different direction and embrace the possibility that there is something good coming down the pike that has yet to arrive.

Recently I’ve been talking with a young person that I baptized as a baby. He is struggling with trying to determine what God is calling him to do. In a recent blog he spoke of the fear of failure – failing his family, failing God, failing himself – just a fear of failure. I’ve thought long and hard since reading those words. As we get older maybe it is fear that grips us and holds us back from reinventing ourselves and become “old stick-in-the-muds,” as the phrase goes. We begin to walk hesitantly out of a fear of falling, we ease into our “comfort zone,” and slowly we become a part of those who hate change, even when the world around us is in constant change. What I need to say to him, myself and to all those who fear failure is: there is nothing wrong with trying and failing, but there is a lot wrong with never trying. So, in the face of failure, proclaim: Why not! And venture forth with confidence. In the face of predictability, proclaim: Why not! And make the choice for something different. In the face of daily routines, proclaim: Why not! And go forth and try something new. Who knows, you just might make new friends, discover something different about yourself, open up an entire new world of different ways of thinking and living … who knows … if you stagnate you’ll never know … will you?

Quote for today: Bring back my Joy! I want to be Healthy, Happy and Vibrant. I want to Laugh again, Love again and Live again. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, running as fast as I can and ending up back where I started. Isn't it funny how the wisest advice is usually what we already know? The simple things are always the most effective. That inner voice whispering, "It's time to peel off the layers and reach into the authentic self." It's time to take control, make the change and reinvent yourself. Like a butterfly bound by a cocoon, it's time to set yourself free and fly. ~Unknown author