Reinvention is great, if you can afford it. I just finished Your Life Calling by Jane Pauley. The objective, according to the author, is “to inspire people…to imagine their own future in powerful and positive ways.” Pauley weaves her story into the telling of those anecdotes. She’s cheerful and self-effacing, and uses her broadcaster cadence in the narration. Unfortunately, the result is a kind of tonal flatness, no controversy or gravitas, no real highs or lows. This is probably because the book is an advertisement for her show and she wants to attract the largest audience possible.
So that’s the downside, yet there was enough in it for me to feel it was worth reading. I enjoyed the anecdotes of the many fine people who are following their passions and doing good in the world by bringing fresh water to Africa or school books to the inner cities. And Pauley offers snippets of wisdom, her own or gleaned from interviews with reinventors. For example:
*The concept of “packing for your future.” What might you take with you into very old age, that you can look back upon and think, “I’m glad I did that. I’m at peace because I did that.”
*Instead of empty nest syndrome, one woman viewed the newly available time as “a gift box that I could fill somehow.”
*Being willing to give up on some things, like running a marathon or learning a foreign language. (This is the basis of the popular “F*** It List,” a topic previously explored here.)
*”Self-discovery is not a prerequisite for reinvention. It’s the payoff.”
I like the idea of reinvention, but there’s something about it that bugs me, and that’s the only real knock on this book. It’s the largely-unacknowledged truth that only a certain economic group will ever be able to indulge in unpaid dream-chasing. This is especially true in the aftermath of the Great Recession, in which many older people decided they would never retire, and it’s not because they love their jobs. If you’ve got a nice pension or enough Social Security to support your wanderings, or your kids are cool with you living in a trailer in their back yard, you might be able to quit working and follow your interests. However, many people will never have that luxury, and I think we should recognize that. Otherwise, it’s tone-deaf of us to pretend reinvention is universally accessible.
Now, if somebody would come along and write a book about “How I Reinvented Myself While Working Three Minimum Wage Jobs and Enduring Chronic Illness,” that would be noteworthy. What do you think? Am I being too cynical?
I appreciated your comments on Jane Pauley’s book, Lynne. I always liked Ms. Pauley and her reporting, but I have not read her book. And I don’t know anything about her TV show.
As someone who is now semi-retired, and will probably remain semi-retired, I have a few thoughts about “reinventing” my life.
First, to enjoy the life you’re living or the life you imagine living in the future, it’s vital to know what you like. So many folks have ignored or forgotten what brings them happiness, that even when they have a free day or a free weekend, they’re lost. If you aren’t aware of what stirs your passion (a walk in the woods, a good book, trying a new recipe, a bike ride, teaching children how to draw, playing the guitar, planting and tending a garden, visiting with good friends, going to the movies, etc.etc.), you aren’t likely to live a passionate life or “reinvent” a life of passion for yourself.
Second, many dreams can be fulfilled at no cost…spending the day at a park, at the beach, in a bookstore or library. I’m a reader and know the pleasure of escaping into the pages of a book that takes me to other lands, other times, other worlds. People who love to read can fill their days and weeks with endless travels of the heart and soul and mind.
And, as I’m sure Ms. Pauley’s book points out, it is likely that fulfilling volunteer possibilities abound whether one lives in a city, suburb or rural area. Choose a volunteer position that matches your passion (for art or outdoor experiences or culinary pleasures, etc.)
Most people dream of traveling to exotic places and, of course, that can prove too expensive for many pocketbooks. But my husband and I have found exotic places close to home. Unexplored places that are exciting to discover, enjoy, and share with friends. We also sold a lot of “stuff” we’d never used and raised enough money over a summer of garage sales and ebay sales to take a dream cruise.
My point is, if you know what you love, you can enjoy it right now in your daily life, and you can continue to enjoy it as you grow older. The “reinvention” would simply be that you’d have more of what you love in your life as you age. But if you aren’t sure what makes you happy, and you simply dream of things that others have extolled, things that seem beyond your means and ability, you aren’t likely to find your later years very pleasant.
Our later years give us an opportunity to fill up our lives with those activities that make us happy. But, in order to do that, we have to know what makes us happy. “Know yourself” is good advice.
Sunny, there’s a lot of wisdom in your words. Sometimes people don’t appreciate that which is close to home or within reach, believing only that which seems unattainable is best. It takes a special kind of maturity or mental development to know what you need and when you have, in fact, achieved it! My husband is really good at this – he is the most in-the-moment, mindful, appreciative person I know, and I’m lucky to have had some of that rub off on me.
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I’ve been recently held captive in a dead-web-zone. It was pretty fine.
Stop by again. All future comments will go right up, instantly. Best wishes.
I often wonder if public figures can be totally honest especially if they are worried about audience and ratings. I love your last question because that is the reality. Reinvention in midlife has economic and often times physical limitations due to illness. I guess that is where one’s creativity comes in…how to live our best lives within our own parameters.
Interesting question. I don’t think living your dream at any age is out of the question it just depends on what you are willing to compromise on.
I traveled all my younger years, by the time the empty nest arrived I was ready to stay in one place and grab life. My compromise came down to renting versus owning, the rest I got. Yes I downsized to have less bills and more freedom but in return I can smell the lake from my door and have peace and serenity. I have enough to still travel when the mood stokes but I also have time for everything else I didn’t get around to until now.
Great question, Lynne! The term “reinvention” has been “reinvented” in recent years.
Our generation (Boomers) chased the dream of “retirement”…a middle class dream that was the goal for the two generations that preceded ours (G.I. and Silent).
The generation that follows ours (Gen-X…now between the ages of 34 and 49) is in the position observe how the Boomers have and will negotiate the “bonus years.”
The bonus years…those 30 years between ages 50 and 80..pretty much a whole 2nd adulthood…are the perfect time for reinvention. The key is that one must plan for those years. Just as we were encouraged to plan for retirement, we must now encourage younger people to plan instead for reinvention.
The segment of our population that will be most likely to reinvent themselves is women. If a young woman put her “dreams on hold” to raise a family, the good news is she will have the TIME to achieve those dreams once her first major job in life is complete. Women who are in mid-life transition have the choice to use their energy fearing the “empty nest”…menopause…and aging…OR they can take the time to begin making a plan for how they want to spend their “bonus years.”
Is reinvention elitist? It may be for the Boomers. I think it will become the “norm” for the generations to come.
Sue, you make so many great points. Some “reinvention writers” have observed that our generation is the first to be able to expect so many years of good health and potential productivity after retirement. So the question, “What are you going to do with the rest of your life?” is fairly new. I’m always cognizant of the importance of setting an example (either of what to do or what to avoid!) for my adult kids, who will retire in about 25 years. I’ve tried to model that you should have more in your life than just work. My mother has set a great example for us kids, and at 89 is still so busy and curious about life.
I love the book title you finished with. I am writing about embracing my angst. The danger of it as a book, among others, is when does my angst quality as angst or is it just the whining of a privileged white male.
Bob, you’re just not a whiner, so don’t worry about that (although sometimes I think my blog sounds like I’m whining.) Maybe the difference between whining and not is the question “Is this a fairly universal condition, and are my observations helping?” So Jane is helping with her book, but it’s only universal for people who can afford to retire and have the luxury of thinking “What do I want to do now?”