I am gobsmacked-honored if my comment provided any inspiration for this chock-full-o'-wisdom post — and grateful for the shout-out! So much to print on my heart here, including your points taht life is not an endless highlight reel and we all have those nano-moments but we LIVE in between them. And a biggie for me personally: your understanding that your mother's brain was protecting her by editing out the unpleasant parts from her history with your father. My mother did the same thing, and I resented the way she was rewriting MY history. But with that insight, I can let it go. Huge thanks, Julia.
You are so welcome Jan. I find that wisdom is jam-packed into comments, and so often comments inspire articles, and articles are grown from the observations of people who often have no idea how wise they are. The other day a writer asked me about what to do if someone hijacks a post and goes on and on with it. Two things: first, your original post might have inspired them utterly; second, it might be that they're looking for a bully pulpit to get in front of your subs. I'd be careful to assume, as we're not privy to what's inside their intentions, but I think it's a fine thing to enjoy having pricked someone into another set of important musings with your comments. Thank you as always.
I love this post. Your shift after midlife is so inspiring to me. I'm naturally quite risk adverse and timid, but I feel that it's time to step out and make some splats!
Lovely, Louisa. You know, right now I'm writing a speech for March 23rd. In it I'm talking about four stories, three of which I have written on here. NONE of them is the epic highlight reel. ALL of them are the hilarious accidents and pratfalls that I love to turn into comedy central. That is what transformation did- and I stopped worrying about how I looked, and started asking how I wanted to live. How I do it isn't for everyone, but honestly, SPLATS help a great deal.
They ARE the speech, in fact. Three big SPLATS including a photo of myself with my denture-sicle and my teeth out of my mouth. That'll get their attention!
Love this! Letting go of the past in order to fully embrace the present has been and continues to be a helluva ride, as well as a mostly happy experience. Of course there have been going off the rails experiences, and being able to get back on track and keep moving forward fills me with gratitude every day. Let's keep going down this road because who knows what's around the next curve or over that hill on the horizon?
Love this point Julia. Perhaps it's a good part of our human tendency to make the past seem better than it was and there are some useful aspects to that but, as you said, not always. I accidentally gave myself a reality check by rereading my old journals from back in the day (this was before I got rid of them all). I was quite surprised at how challenging I found life to be back then when, in my mind, I had painted a glowing pic of how much better it was when I was younger/single/student and living a 'carefree life'.
I had to read this again, and since I have all the boxes of my previous writings crammed into my basement so that my painter can take care of the bedroom walls, this brought back an important observation. I have long used my journals to assess how far I've come, or not. Journals have been my savior since I was 19, and while I largely stopped once I got very active writing online, they still form a baseline for me to determine where I've actually made some real progress. They are, for me, a gift. Not for all of us, but for some. Good point.
Oh my God precisely. I have few beliefs about carefree, but every once in a while I see a photo that catches me off guard. Did I REALLY look like that? Yeah. For a few seconds. So what, right?
I am gobsmacked-honored if my comment provided any inspiration for this chock-full-o'-wisdom post — and grateful for the shout-out! So much to print on my heart here, including your points taht life is not an endless highlight reel and we all have those nano-moments but we LIVE in between them. And a biggie for me personally: your understanding that your mother's brain was protecting her by editing out the unpleasant parts from her history with your father. My mother did the same thing, and I resented the way she was rewriting MY history. But with that insight, I can let it go. Huge thanks, Julia.
You are so welcome Jan. I find that wisdom is jam-packed into comments, and so often comments inspire articles, and articles are grown from the observations of people who often have no idea how wise they are. The other day a writer asked me about what to do if someone hijacks a post and goes on and on with it. Two things: first, your original post might have inspired them utterly; second, it might be that they're looking for a bully pulpit to get in front of your subs. I'd be careful to assume, as we're not privy to what's inside their intentions, but I think it's a fine thing to enjoy having pricked someone into another set of important musings with your comments. Thank you as always.
I agree -- let's assume the best intentions until proven otherwise :-)
I love this post. Your shift after midlife is so inspiring to me. I'm naturally quite risk adverse and timid, but I feel that it's time to step out and make some splats!
Lovely, Louisa. You know, right now I'm writing a speech for March 23rd. In it I'm talking about four stories, three of which I have written on here. NONE of them is the epic highlight reel. ALL of them are the hilarious accidents and pratfalls that I love to turn into comedy central. That is what transformation did- and I stopped worrying about how I looked, and started asking how I wanted to live. How I do it isn't for everyone, but honestly, SPLATS help a great deal.
Splats are infinitely more interesting and rich than those nanoseconds of perfection :-) Wonderful that you will be including them in your speech!
They ARE the speech, in fact. Three big SPLATS including a photo of myself with my denture-sicle and my teeth out of my mouth. That'll get their attention!
🤣✌👍🙌❤
I love it when wisdom is strewn with humor. It makes so much more sense.
Thanks John. I often find, as with Shakespeare's fool, the wisdom is often hidden in the joke, especially when it's on ourselves.
Could not agree more. Keep 'em coming.
Doing my best!
Love this! Letting go of the past in order to fully embrace the present has been and continues to be a helluva ride, as well as a mostly happy experience. Of course there have been going off the rails experiences, and being able to get back on track and keep moving forward fills me with gratitude every day. Let's keep going down this road because who knows what's around the next curve or over that hill on the horizon?
Amen Gary! I love this comment. Off the rails is half the fun, and it's also where we find out that we CAN get back on the rails ourselves. YES!
Takes me back to an old post, not here on Substack but you can find it here:
https://garygruber.com/recalibrate-and-stay-on-track/
Love this point Julia. Perhaps it's a good part of our human tendency to make the past seem better than it was and there are some useful aspects to that but, as you said, not always. I accidentally gave myself a reality check by rereading my old journals from back in the day (this was before I got rid of them all). I was quite surprised at how challenging I found life to be back then when, in my mind, I had painted a glowing pic of how much better it was when I was younger/single/student and living a 'carefree life'.
I had to read this again, and since I have all the boxes of my previous writings crammed into my basement so that my painter can take care of the bedroom walls, this brought back an important observation. I have long used my journals to assess how far I've come, or not. Journals have been my savior since I was 19, and while I largely stopped once I got very active writing online, they still form a baseline for me to determine where I've actually made some real progress. They are, for me, a gift. Not for all of us, but for some. Good point.
Oh my God precisely. I have few beliefs about carefree, but every once in a while I see a photo that catches me off guard. Did I REALLY look like that? Yeah. For a few seconds. So what, right?
Many warm thanks.
We don't stop having fun when we get old. We get old when we stop having fun.