Maybe you’re in the midst of a mid-life crisis reinvention, maybe you’re too young for one, or perhaps you’ve come out the other side. Maybe you’re having an early existential crisis or perhaps (lucky/perfect you) you just don’t feel any need to reinvent. Who says you have to reinvent?
Maybe you are just caught up in the Christmas car park queues and don’t really care.
Maybe you’re waiting for this BIG, HUGE, GIGANTIC change. Perhaps a new year will bring it. 2016 will be your year – if you make it that way.
But changes don’t always (or very often) happen in huge, dramatic ways. The sneak and squirrel up on you. They creep up, turning laziness and procrastination and wallowing into bad habits, or they notch up, turning steady and oh-so-subtle improvements into major transformations. You choose.
So I was thinking back to all the things I’ve done, the changes I’ve made, in my (ongoing) search for meaning and ‘reinvention’. Maybe I’m almost ready to come out the other side, while finally recognizing that life is much more about exploring than searching. Recognizing that as much things change – well you know the saying.
Realising that it’s simply a process of ‘up-cycling’ your life.
Here goes – a potted history of the last ten (well actually 12 – that’s what happens when you get old, time flies even faster) years of change in my life (hopefully without boring you senseless).
- 2004 – aged 36, become a mother (at long bloody last). After our 8 year ‘journey’ of infertility, IVF and adoption, I’m more than ready for this change in my life. Well sort of – nothing ever really prepares you. Cheers.
- 2005 – happy, stay-at-home Mum – with just a tiny bit of consultancy/writing work on the side. Hardly drink wine – too busy enjoying parenting. Get really fit.
- 2006 – happy, stay-at-home Mum – with a bit more consultancy/writing work. Busy juggling. Finish a version of my unpublished memoir. Get into interior design (dabbling with casual work in a home/design store). Drink a bit more wine.
- 2007 – aged 39, restless with staying at home, excitedly do a feasibility/business plan for a new food business with dreams of franchising and then reconcile myself to the fact that; a) we are waiting on our second adoption and; b) we have no money to start a business. Decide to go after a ‘corporate’ job again, and after narrowly missing a plum university role, return to a role in local government with new enthusiasm. Here’s cheers (with a wine of course).
- 2008 – turn 40!?!?! Try to stay enthused about new role. Renovate. Drink a bit too much wine. Then get fit again.
- 2009 – decide to study for a Masters of Environment part-time (with work supporting study) – something completely different (excuse the boast – get two distinctions and one high distinction). Miss Yin starts school. Do a bit of yoga. Parenting/work/study moderate my wine consumption, at least a bit.
- 2010 – decide to leave job, and put study on hold. Take on new corporate role at a university, all the while STILL waiting for second adoption. Renovate. Finally adopt our son at the end of the year, aged 42 (after only spending 10 months in said new corporate role). Spend a fair bit of the year stressed, including when my Dad is diagnosed with cancer – cue wine, and a bit of yoga.
- 2011 – live ‘the dream’ in Canada for a year on hubby’s job and house exchange. Get to not work for a whole year! Stay-at-home with baby Little Yang and Miss Yin at school. Bake!?! Ski. Travel (New York, New York/Disneyland/San Francisco/Rocky Mountains). Drive on the other side of the road. Eat poutine (fries with cheese curd) and s’mores (ice-cream sandwiched between chocolate biscuits with marshmallow). Drink Canadian beer and far too much Chilean wine by the fire. Get unfit. Get back into yoga. Re-write my memoir.
- 2012 – return to the ‘real world’. Have to go back to work part-time in local government. Drink too much wine. Start a blog with big plans. Negotiate a new full-time role down to 4 days (three from the office, one from home – winning!). Get back into yoga, again.
- 2013 – Drink too much wine. Get a bit into work again – want the ‘career’ role again (only not really). Universe and boss conspire not to give me career role. Really get into yoga. Get into kid’s meditation videos. Get into blogging.
- 2014 – Really get more into yoga, and a little bit more into work. Do yoga teacher training (aged 46). Still drink wine (a little too much). Get less into blogging (but do start a fortnightly contribution to a global yoga blog).
- 2015 – Little Yang starts school. Still at work. Teach yoga. Do more yoga training. Do less blogging. Renovate and get back into interior design. Dad gets the five-year all-clear from cancer. I get fitter and drink no wine for a while. Teach more yoga. Get more into meditation. But still drink
a bittoo much wine. Age 47.
And the up-cycling continues – ten best things to do with empty toilet rolls, in case you are interested. Everything old is new again.
2016? – Well I would say ‘Cheers’, but I’ve already laid bare a decade + of wine consumption, more or less (but let’s face it usually more). Maybe it is time to put the glass down – time for change.
So Namaste – it’s too early in December for an end-of-year finale. Enjoy the Christmas countdown and I’ll be back on the blog with some festive cheer. And yoga. And meditation. And a bit of balance. An exploring, always exploring.
Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT for the last time this year. Merry Christmas IBOTer’s. Are you reinventing yourself? Is it a constant process?
18 Comments on “Reinvention, again and again and again”
I must say that wine has been a constant theme to my life in the last 10 years as well. Perhaps it is time for change, spirits maybe? xx
Ha, ha. I do dabble in the odd G&T. I think I just need to get a better balance that has more yoga substituting for the coping cordial.
Loving the wine tales alongside the life tales xxx happy holidays and here is to a great 2016
Thanks Deb – yes if only I could be as consistent in my focus with other things as I am in my attitude to wine.
Ups and downs…I get torn on planning because when I make a plan it has never, ever happened. I think I need to work on values but people say values too much these days so I need another word for it!
Ah, the best laid plans Vanessa. Sometimes I think it can be as much about deciding (based on your values/what brings you joy) to NOT do some things and stick with that. Then experiment or follow the flow once you’ve narrowed down what you won’t do – if that makes sense.
Loved reading your timeline Kathy. You’ve do rap much in 10 years. Next year I plan to get fit myself and eat a bit better.
When I look back at those hodge-podge of changes I’ve made over the past 10 years or so I do realise it is the times I’ve felt fit and healthy that have been at my best overall. Good luck with your health goals for 2016.
This is a great way to see just how far you have actually come. And I am amazed at how much we achieve and give ourselves very little credit. #IBOT team
It’s funny Natalie – I feel it charts the history of someone who doesn’t really know where they are going (ie ME!) rather than someone who has come a long way (well maybe in a very roundabout way). Some of the changes were practical and some less so, but I’m glad I’ve been able to take risks, experiment and I do feel 2016 may be the year to finally focus!
What a great way to review things- a fab timeline! I swear I’ve never been more wined up than since children entered my life! x
I think it is a common thing to pair wine with parenting Sasha. The trap for me is looking for the escape of a few glasses of wine instead of getting focused or stepping up to a challenge.
What a great review, Kathy. I love hearing about everything you’ve done and all of the changes you’ve been through. Awesome news about your dad! I can’t wait to see what 2016 brings for you xx
Thanks for all your lovely comments and support this year Renee. It is great about my Dad – and he is a ‘young’ 71, so hopefully lots more years of fun times ahead. Starting with 2016 – I hope it is better for you because you’ve had a tough year. X
What a nice way to look back on the last 12 years. A lot changed but didn’t really at the same time did it? 🙂
Yes, some things are ‘bad’ habits but I like to see progress along the way too. Thanks for some lovely comments over the year Jess and all you do with IBOT.
It’s so interesting to document one’s life through the years! Sounds like you have the thing for you at this time!
I think yoga is my thing, coupled with writing and….but I’m getting closer to the combination that brings me joy. Thanks for your visits over the year Steph.