Life change

Why Can’t Anything Stay The Same?

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RESILIENT
re·sil·ient
adjective
(of a substance or object) able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching, or being compressed.
synonyms: flexible, pliable, supple

(of a person or animal) able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

The world around us is moving at a breakneck pace. It’s becoming a colossal challenge to stay current; to keep up.

It seemed like, in the “good old days”, you could count on the solid footing that the status quo provided.
Those days are gone for good, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Many, many of the changes are for the better.

I just get nostalgic for some of the things that have gone the way of the rotary phone and Drive In movies.

I remember my dad grumbling under his breath, about the price of gas during the 1970’s gas crisis, when it had the audacity to hedge closer and closer to the one dollar a gallon marker. He was crestfallen when suddenly there was no attendant to check his oil and tire pressure and wash his windshield.
Shit, he even had to pump his OWN GAS!

It was hard for me to understand his consternation, hey, this was progress, after all.

But now I totally get it.
For the life of him, he could have never imagined something that had been 17 cents a gallon his whole life, would EVER cost him a dollar.
Un fathomable.

What about the days when we had one, MAYBE two telephones, connected by wires TO. THE. WALL. in our homes. You had to stand in one place while you held a conversation, and sometimes (gasp) it just rang and rang, with no answer machine to take a message.

Deep philosophical question alert: If a phone rings (in the forrest) and no one answers, and no message is left….. did the call actually occur?

However did we manage to live life?

My girlfriend and I were lamenting the fact that we aren’t ever alone anymore.
Like an ever present stalker, our cell phones lurk nearby, keeping us connected to the world, whether we want to be….or not.
Try unplugging for a day. It is harder to kick than crack cocaine.

I for one, do appreciate all the new technological advances in the last twenty years.
I love laser printers, smart phone cameras, texting, fax machines, email, my iPad, the ability to buy virtually ANYTHING from my bed, in my pajamas, at 2:30 in the morning.
I have worked hard at becoming resilient to change.

But here’s the thing. I need to mourn some of my favorite things that have been lost along the way.

I miss the Borders Bookstore on La Cienega. I loved being a single loser and losing myself with all the other single losers on Saturday nights.
We would purchase our pre-requisite coffees at the coffee counter,(which were pretty descent) and proceed to roam the self help aisle. I’d eventually make my way to the music section (that was the cool thing, they had a music section) where the cute hipster guys hung out.
Then, as I left, I’d grab a People, Vogue, and Allure magazine from their incredibly comprehensive magazine WALL.
If I felt sophisticated, or was trying to impress someone nearby, I’d add an Italian Vogue…….Ciao Borders.

I miss the neighborhood bookstores. I miss the smell. I miss Borders. I’m going to mourn it before I order from Amazon again. ( which will probably be in the next twelve minutes.)

Both my beloved high school and the place I worked for close to twenty years cease to exist. They were both destroyed by God. My high school by the 1994 earthquake and Antiquarius Antiques was burned down about six years ago.

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*The former entrance to my beloved Alemany High School

Whenever I drive by either of those sites, where I lived out large chucks of my life; I feel slightly melancholy.
In my minds eye I can still picture how they USED to look.
Current reality is very different. One is a perpetual construction site and the other is just ruins inside a chain link fence.
They reconstructed the school across the street. It’s lovely…..meh.

I like to think I’m flexible, pliable, and supple (what?) to change, and I can be.
But what I think we all need to do (because I know I need to), as the world continues to whizz past us, is take a minute and mourn the loss of the things we loved that have gone bye-bye.

That will keep us stretchy and resilient.

okay, your turn. What are the places or things that have left in the name of progress? What do you need to mourn?
Tell me about them below.

xox

Living An Expert’s Life

Living An Expert's Life

You don’t have to have cancer to be an cancer expert.
But it really helps.

Kris Carr started her whole “Crazy Sexy” empire while documenting her journey with a rare form of cancer. She was a successful actress who became a filmmaker, and writer ( something she never thought she could do, that resonates with ME)!
She didn’t go get a degree in journalism or filmmaking first, she became an expert on cancer and healing because she was living it, and wanted to share her journey, so she jumped into the arena.

Jennifer Lawrence just added a second Golden Globe Award to her Academy Award! This fearless young actress can hold her own with the Hollywood heavyweights. When asked about her “process” she admits she’s never studied acting!
She just “does it”. She’s an expert because she just gets up there and delivers, over and over again.

I know people who devote years to study and research, and multiple degrees, before they publish a paper. If they ever do. Many don’t. Seems they’re just never ready.
While it’s impressive and some feel required to have a degree in your chosen field,
my feeling is that while degrees are good, just living life and putting in the time, can make you an expert. 
Except for rocket science…to be a rocket scientist you need tons of advanced study! Agreed?!

I’m an expert at estate jewelry. I am. I’ve been immersed in everything about it for over 25 years.
That’s nice.

Now I’m a middle aged woman who doesn’t want to continue with that career.
I’m changing, it doesn’t do it for me anymore.
I’m writing this blog, living my spiritual path, and in doing that, I’m finding there are SO many of us that are experiencing the exact same thing!

I’m an expert now at leaving a previous profession behind to follow my heart.

There’s no degree on my wall, but I’m living it.
Every day.
I’m on the playing field, writing and talking and supporting others.
I’m sorry to report that at an age where I was hopeful I would have life all figured out I don’t.
The only thing that has permanently become clear at 55 is my skin!

I don’t have all the answers, but the ones I DO have I’m excited to share.
I want to inspire, open minds and start a conversation.

So I feel that after a good year and a half of writing from my heart, and now practicing spiritual courage instead of cowardice, 
I’m ready to reach out and put a group together of woman over 40 who are experts in fields they no longer want to pursue.
Who are contemplating doing a 180 in mid life!
Are you a doctor that wants to paint?
Are you a lawyer who at heart wants to do landscaping?
A mom who’s kids are leaving or have left, and now you have time for (gulp) yourself?
That’s great! Because I’m a jeweler that loves to write and wants to help people.

What I do know for sure is that there are a ton of us, and we’re all in this together!
How about it?
Are you in?
Listen to the call of your heart*

XoxJanet

*for further information contact me at atikhome@me.com

Hi, I’m Janet

Mentor. Pirate. Dropper of F-bombs.

This is where I write about my version of life. My stories. Told in my own words.

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