I wrote this before I realized it is my 200th post. It seems all the more appropriate.
Boomers are old enough to be whoever they really are, especially Boomers in the second half of the age range. And we should be damn proud of it!
This is a totally unscientific observation, but I believe that in our society, we spend much of our lives living as someone else, acting out a script written by those who we encounter along the way. Then at some point in our 50s we realize that we can begin to become ourselves - the real person each of us is.
We seem to enter adulthood as the person who our parents think we should be (after we’re done rebelling against that idea). Then we get married and become the person our spouse thinks we should be. This is especially sad because we often show a small part of ourselves during the dating years, then we are expected to always show only that narrow range of our personality.
Through our working life, we strive to be who our bosses want us to be. If we become the boss, we then have to be who both subordinates and superiors expect us to be.
OK, so maybe all of this is mostly my own life experience. However, I can’t believe I’m the only one. I’m sure I read about this behavior process somewhere.
You hear about older mid-life people changing careers from something they just fell into to something they are very passionate about. Many return to school to study what they really wanted to learn. Older Boomers and Seniors are often more vocal about their opinions and are more willing to admit to likes and dislikes, even if expressing those feelings seems out of character to friends, family and co-workers.
Do you see yourself in this? How old are you? Have you tried to just be you and found barricades blocking your path in all directions?
To anyone, at any age, who finds the courage or strength to break free from the expectations of others, I say Bravo! Congratulations for giving yourself permission to be yourself. It is not always easy, but it is worth the attempt. After all these years, I think I am finally becoming me.
A Little Ditty
3 weeks ago
4 comments:
I'm currently in the process of a major reinvention of myself. After floating in retail management for nigh-on a decade followed by another half decade of unfulfilling, dead-end, temporary jobs that I'm still stuck in after three years, I've decided to go back to my original goal (lost somewhere during my Freshman year at the university - how is it we expect 18 year olds to know what they want to do with their lives, anyway?) and become a teacher. I'm slowly but steadily working my way through all the requirements to become one.
And in the meantime, I'm still writing, and one of my books might possibly become an award winner.
Ian
I'm glad that you're breaking out and finding the courage to be who you really are!
I spent many of my younger years doing what I wanted and being the person whom I felt that I really was, but it wasn't without the feeling that I was disappointing someone, be it my parents or even, dare I say it, myself. Then I decided that maybe it was time to "fit in", to not rock the boat anymore, to try make those around me proud or happy for a change. Yet now I'm finally realizing that it's been making me quite unhappy.
I'm just at the beginning of trying to change all this, to return to bein the person whom I really feel that I should be, but am finding that it's harder than ever to break free of the conformity that I've succumbed to in the past decade. It would have been easier if I'd stayed myself, no matter what the cost. Somehow it will work itself out, though. It always does.
Good luck with your journey!
Wow, two of my favorite bloggers are both reinventing. Let's start a club - or a support group. :)
Love the post! At forty-something, it's just now that I feel I coming 'into my own." I'm not necessarily reinventing myself, but I am making changes whenever I realize I'm acting out of someone else's expectations instead of my own.
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