September brings the autumnal equinox, that point in time when day and night are of equal length. The following days will get shorter and the nights longer. Ancient civilizations used this entry into the autumn season as a time to celebrate the fruits of one’s labor, begin the harvest, and prepare for the famine months that would come after December’s winter solstice.
Whether or not a civilization would thrive or perish depended on decisions made during this period and actions taken in the ensuing months. Although the circumstances of our modern world differ greatly from ancient times, it’s still useful to use September as a month for reflection and renewal.
This year, you might contemplate: “Who is the real me?”
Finding the Real You
I once heard legendary football coach Lou Holtz give a graduation speech along those lines. He described two paths facing the graduates. One was the path you were PAID FOR. That’s your job, your career, the way you sustain yourself in life’s journey. The other is the path you were MADE FOR, where you discover the “real you” and live your life accordingly.
Coach Holtz noted that in an ideal world these two paths converge. You would get paid for what you were made for, and you would spend your life working on what really mattered to you, what you enjoyed, and in an arena where you likely excelled. But life sometimes isn’t like that. Sometimes, you have to do what you get paid for to achieve financial stability so you can do what you’re really made for.
The 55+ portal is a fork in the road and a perfect time to examine the path you’re on, figure out the path upon which you want to be, and move ahead. Here are some true stories about people we’ve known over the years who did just that.
Norm and Betty were approaching retirement. They were great socializers. She was a fabulous cook and Norm was, well…“a character in his own right”. Both were “people-people”. They had traveled quite a bit and fell in love with the Bed & Breakfast concept. It was “them” and they imagined themselves owning one. But they had no business experience, and they had only owned one home in their 30 years in the Navy. Undeterred, they bought an 8,000 sq-ft, multi-bedroom place in east Tennessee.
After a lot of restoration, repair and re-design they were ready to open. They hired staff, Betty cooked and supervised the kitchen, and Norm, well…was entertaining. It was an exhausting experience, but it worked out to fulfill their dreams, their time, and (thankfully) their pocketbooks.
Ted was a mechanical engineer. He collected high-end antique clocks and watches. One of them broke, and the experts he usually depended on for repairs couldn’t fix it. So, being an engineer (they can fix anything you know), he took it apart, figured out the problem, bought a couple of specialized tools, and got it working again. He was hooked and would eventually have his own watch/repair shop in his garage (with lots of fancy equipment), focused on antique watches/clocks (especially grandfather and cuckoo clocks). He didn’t make a lot of money, but did make a lot of new friends and had a great time in the process.
Sonny was a successful Civil Engineer with 25 years of practice in the field. He had a passion for history, especially military history. When his grandfather passed away, Sonny was given a volume of diaries written by his great-grandfather during the four-year period he served in the northern army in the U.S. Civil War. Sonny contacted the history department of the state university and proposed a doctoral program for himself with a dissertation based on transcribing, interpreting, and adding historical context to the diaries. Upon completion of his PhD, Sonny was selected to join the faculty and subsequently donated the original diaries to the university.
Several friends parlayed their love of travel into careers as professional travel agents and tour guides. We know a couple of individuals who were called to the ministry, even after long careers far afield from the pulpit. Others turned to volunteer work and applied their executive skills in the non-profit world. We even know one or two folks who took their talents to the interior of distant lands to help bring modern technology and conveniences to the local population.
There are many others but the point here is that you can shift gears. Still, in order to succeed you probably need to do some introspection and determine what REALLY matters to you. From there you can chart your course to fulfill your life mission.
Focus on the future. Look ahead, not behind. You can’t steer a boat by looking at the wake. Clear away the could’a, would’a, should’a narrative. Hit delete on the thought that you could’a done this, or you would’a done that, or that you should’a done something else. Focus on what you enjoy because that’s what you are likely to do well, and equally likely to be what you’re made for.
Jettison the burdens of past personal relationships gone-wrong. Don’t underestimate the power of forgiveness. When you forgive, you absolve yourself of any responsibility for change and pass the burden of change to the person who committed the offense. It can be like lifting a bag of rocks off your back, and you can get on with life.
The individuals in my examples were all ordinary people who, given the opportunity, made the extraordinary discovery of what they were really made for. Every one of us has that sort of hidden pathway inside us. What we need to do is take a good look at the things that really excite us and bring us joy. Those things will mark the pathway.
Fortunately, you don’t have to leave home to explore the possibilities and find the path for which you were made. Georgetown has ample opportunities to bring those dreams to life, in business, in hobbies, through travel, or especially in the non-profit community, many of which you can read about in previous editions of the Georgetown View.
Every living thing serves a purpose. Discover yours, clear the path, and…
Go for it !