What if, wherever you find yourself right now, you could have a fresh chance to reinvent yourself. Would you be excited? Would you take it?
In an interview with Jane Pauley interview, Purpose Prize winner Barbara Chandler Allen makes this observation: “The sun comes up tomorrow, and you get a fresh chance to reinvent yourself.”
Something about that really struck me. Not only as a coach who works with people on reinventing themselves, but also as just another schlep trying (sometimes not so gracefully) to figure out my own path.
Like most people out there, I fall prey sometimes to mistaking a challenging present moment for the future. Or worse yet, I mistake the past for the future, dragging along all that baggage about what hasn’t worked and why I don’t really have what it takes.
But the truth is, every day I wake up, there is a possibility to reimagine, reinvent, and recreate myself. The past is only relevant in that it got me here and created some of the landscape (both internal and external) that I need to navigate through as I move forward.
The same is true for you.
Now, I can hear some of you out there frothing at the mouth and saying, “What??? Do you have any idea just how stuck I am in my situation? I wish I could reinvent myself! But I can’t because __________ (insert whatever very, very good excuses you have).”
Y’know what? I hear that. And I know how excruciatingly true that can feel (I’ve felt it myself). I also happen to believe it’s complete and utter bullshit, regardless of how true it feels.
There are always steps to be taken toward reinvention. It might not come in one fell swoop – in fact, it probably won’t. Reinvention tends to be more of a sculpting process than the flip of a switch. The key is to identify the reinvention you’re after, and then get out the hammer and chisel and start sculpting! Bit by bit, a reinvented you, a reinvented situation starts to take shape.
Try this: The decision to reinvent can be made at any moment, 24/7. But mornings are a great symbolic reminder. Experiment with making a habit of reminding yourself every morning, “Here’s another opportunity to start fresh and reinvent myself! Now what am I going to do with it?”
How about you? Where are the reinvention possibilities on your horizon. It doesn’t have to be wholesale change. Small steps can add up to big change, if they are all being guided by your vision of reinvention. Who could you become? What could you achieve? How could you experience your life?
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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
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