AGELESS CHANGE
The life which is examined is not worth living.
- Plato
When we women reach a certain age, many of us begin to look over our shoulder, wonder where we went wrong, or what more we could have done with our lives. Though I have, on more than one occasion, been guilty of regretting past events or missed opportunities, I agree with Plato—looking too close at our past is a waste of time.
What would we do different? Go to college? Or change our major? Yes. And yes. Many women wish they had become archeologists or scientists instead of the teacher or nurse encouraged to become. I, for example, grew up in the era (and area of the country) where women were encouraged to hone their skills in homemaking, not yearn for extended education.
Do you wish you had married someone else? I can see the nods through this paper. Yes, I was one of those too, although I found a jewel in my second husband who supports my writing and the creative life I have pursued in the past years. Other women wish they had been more adventurous, married the bad boy who became owner of his own fleet of ships, or followed their heart to cross nationality boundaries to marry their true love.
I hope that all of you have, or will let yourself, rectify the mistakes of early life, learn to not look back at what we might have done, and face the rest of our lives with joy, excitement—and well-earned wisdom.
We should write those books we always wanted to create, blow that glass, form the sculptured piece, create a scene in oils, or dance to music that no other person hears but us.
- Plato
When we women reach a certain age, many of us begin to look over our shoulder, wonder where we went wrong, or what more we could have done with our lives. Though I have, on more than one occasion, been guilty of regretting past events or missed opportunities, I agree with Plato—looking too close at our past is a waste of time.
What would we do different? Go to college? Or change our major? Yes. And yes. Many women wish they had become archeologists or scientists instead of the teacher or nurse encouraged to become. I, for example, grew up in the era (and area of the country) where women were encouraged to hone their skills in homemaking, not yearn for extended education.
Do you wish you had married someone else? I can see the nods through this paper. Yes, I was one of those too, although I found a jewel in my second husband who supports my writing and the creative life I have pursued in the past years. Other women wish they had been more adventurous, married the bad boy who became owner of his own fleet of ships, or followed their heart to cross nationality boundaries to marry their true love.
I hope that all of you have, or will let yourself, rectify the mistakes of early life, learn to not look back at what we might have done, and face the rest of our lives with joy, excitement—and well-earned wisdom.
We should write those books we always wanted to create, blow that glass, form the sculptured piece, create a scene in oils, or dance to music that no other person hears but us.
posted by Barb | 9:46 PM
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