STRETCHING--REACHING OUT

I keep remembering Gail Sheehy’s book “Passages”.  The discovery (at least for me) that adult life is not one big plateau where you can go sliding along without much thought until the end.  Nope, just like the “terrible twos”, and the “hormonal teen years”, our adult life still contain patterns of living where you stretch, challenge, grow, and settle back until the next round.  

At 68 years old, I am still discovering a new life, a new me, and a challenging time.  It keeps me on my toes and keeps me searching for the right answers, all the while growing, evolving to become…who knows what…but always striving to be the best I can be.

I work to keep an open mind to anything the universe sets before me.  It may appear to the outside world that I am unsettled when the opposite is true.  I am very settled, but I love opening new doors to new people, and it has served me well in my adult life!

I still feel like an infant in this new world of being single.  Not always sure how to navigate my “aloneness” at times, I am always searching for directions.  A recent article in the Washington Post encouraged “singles” to get out of their comfort zone and learn how to go out and do things alone.  It went on to say, not doing so would only cheat you out of some great times and good experiences.

Eating out and traveling alone are okay for me, while other times activities can fill me with insecurities and uncertainty making staying home more comfortable.  Living in this community is a great window on life and how to live it.  Forty-five percent of this community are single people.  Recently, I read that 51% of the total population is single.  That is a lot of single people.  We all can’t be hiding out in our homes.

They are not!  I recently became acquainted with a new neighbor in our community who is fearless about her “singleness”.  I see her as an older version of my daughter, who also single, lives life with as much passion and gusto as a person can do.  I have much to learn from both of them.  I have do doubt that I will continue to stretch out, challenge myself, and grow, only to settle back until the next round comes my way.  

After all, stretching out of my comfort zone is the only way to reach that door knob to new adventures!