We live in a do-it-yourself world. Previous generations would be surprised as we ring up and pack our own groceries, pump our own gas and make our own investment decisions for retirement. Some of these “advancements” have made our lives easier, or at least saved us some time. Many are scary on different levels. I might have been proud that I once rewired a lamp but was concerned each time I turned it on in case I’d done something wrong.
Months ago I ran across this George Eliot quote, “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” With that as a starting point I have begun many musings. I’ve had titles from “Things you can’t recreate” to “Reinventions” and have several interesting phrases, thoughts and beginnings. I rather liked this opening: “Remember that important assignment or task when you wanted to wow the teacher, your boss, your peers, your family, and well, the result was, from your perspective, adequate at best?”
But I have struggled to string those good ideas or phrases together. Yesterday I realized why. This is a DIY musing. I can only speak for me. Each reader needs to figure out what that phrase might mean to him or her. So, in the two minutes left that you would normally spend to finish reading my words, decide one small thing that you would enjoy doing or always meant to do that reflects one interpretation of Eliot’s challenge. For me, there is someone to whom I could be a better friend. I’m going to text her just with a ‘thinking of you’ message. Now go on and DIY, that is, be more of what you might have been.
Marilyn
I avoid self-improvement or at least sabotage it. Your musing made me think of a song from my favorite performance in "Working." the song goes "If I coulda been, what I woulda been, I woulda been something." It's all about aspirations. And, of course, Marlon Brando "coulda been a contenda." No do overs possible, but we can keep moving forward with guts, even if we "haven't got far from the starting line because of those "if's, and's, and but's."
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