Reinvention Year Two

One of my first posts when I started this blog a year ago dealt with the tectonic shift that was occurring in my life. I explored how I had weathered these changes in the past. My sister had just moved back to Arizona and I was alone again. I was also in the throes of writing my book.

In the last paragraph I warned my readers they may be following the insane rantings of a starving writer. Well, so far so good, I think. I may be slightly more insane, but I am by no means starving yet. I also remind myself that through counting up my accomplishments and accolades from the past, I can see that I am reinventing my life. Those few small holes in the financial department? They  merely point to more invention needed and more adventures to come.

Writing and thinking with my marketing hat on again is not only fun, I’m amazed at how easily it all comes back to me with fresh eyes. I can see how to employ things I learned in high tech, as well as marketing myself and book, translate to marketing a whole new business venture. The Holiday Book Fair put me in the mood to get back to creative work in a commercial setting.

Reinvention requires sorting through what of the past to keep, what can be repurposed, and what should be discarded. Labels, like career and employment, become sticky and the edges curl up like an old refrigerator magnet. I want to peel them off and throw them away, but they  still hold yellowed notes that I may need some day.   I’ve realized they don’t disappear, they evolve.

The folders in my email and the storage boxes beneath my desk hold ties to my corporate past,  gathering dust and taking up precious space. But the other day, when I was working on a press release for Monadnock Oil & Vinegar, I dug through for an answer to a formatting question. My eye skipped over the tidy part that listed my contact information, as the Director of Investor Relations. Who was that person?

Perhaps it is time to flush the emails and haul the boxes to the dump. Now that it’s been over a year, I could legally write about the true stress and misery that company stewed in daily. There is no money to be made or joy to be had in dredging it up. Enough to say that companies with a culture of fear and shame should not be allowed to operate in this world.

I watched another TED talk last night because the presenter died over the weekend. His name was Sam Berns and he lived his short, seventeen year life as the face of progeria. If you haven’t heard of Sam, there are links on National Geographic, the New York Times and People Magazine. He left a mark on the world for lots of reasons, but the attribute that struck me was his maturity. In an eery sense, he was an old soul, possessing the childlike wonder of building with Legos and reading comic books. He wasn’t a great public speaker, probably because he was just a kid. Of his three keys to happiness, his thoughts on surrounding yourself with supportive, loving people struck closest for me.

In Reinvention Year Two, I hope to dust off what I know, learn to put it to new uses and only allow people who make me happy into my life.