SENIOR AMBITION. THE WORLD TOUR!WHEN WE ARE SENIORS, making creative moves becomes fraught with challenges. We become ambivilant. WE rationalize FAILURE. We say to ourselves, 'my poverty 's hippie good. It's comfy good. It's safe good. Why stress myself. Why try to do something ambitious, after all, I'm not going to live very much longer."
Yeah champ, it's all true, but let's work on the other side of the ledger today, just for the sake of change. Just so you can say that you've looked at life from both sides now.
With pencil, pad in hand, DEFINE and or list YOUR DREAM AIMS, dream conditions, REFINE YOUR 'druthers' your GOALS. DO A DREAM BOARD. THEN, CONSIDER THE MEANS that are realistically open to you. You have a PC? A website? There are free ones out there. You can submit articles containing your wisdom to EZINES. You can do that business with a Nephew or grandchild. However long you're around is long enough to make a dent on their stupid head!
LAST, and only when you've done all the above, LIFT YOUR SWORD and give your plan a good poke so it comes alive. Which reminds me of a line from Hamlet:
To be, or not to be? that is the question. —
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them? — To die, — to sleep —
No more; and by a sleep, to say, we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die —— to sleep ——
To sleep? perchance, to dream. Ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of Death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect,
That makes Calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pang of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes;
When he himself might his Quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardles bear,
To groan and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne
No traveller returns, puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action —— Soft you, now!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_be,_or_not_to_be
Tells us more about what this famous speech really means.
hamlet is dualistic about the battle to nail the guilty parties.
Where there's dualism, there's the devil.
Hamlet knows he should, but .... you know, the usual
considerations ---like. He knows it'll kill him. And harm
his mother whom he loves, basically. But he
cannot quite "CLEAR IT" with himself. He sees it
will cause some deaths. He realizes he can't have an
omelet without breaking eggs. He wants to 'take aim'
against a sea of woes, and he will.You wanna take aim against a sea of woes, yourself? You want to end the bills piling up, have extra to get a cabin in the mountains near a trout filled lake? A home in Mexico? An RV? You gotta ACT. THE RIGHT PLACE TO DWELL MUST BE FOUND. One you drool for. Besides that, you gotta DO SOMETHING CREATIVE about the utilities, server, phone company, food, heat, air conditioning, plumbing, sewage. Last, we have to ENERGIZE our bodies with those perfect diets the Holistics come up with. The ones that have FOOD being our medicine! THE HOLISTIC ARCHIVE.
FOR MOST of us, when we dream of doing some HEROIC, fabulous thing, perhaps creative work, spending fun time in relationships or travel related, we fear being thought crazy, or even going crazy! Fears about pain, danger, time, TIME LEFT, cost in both effort and money, one's age. One's LIMITS, one's persona. Maybe the deed is way different from your persona. Last and worst one's probable IN-effectuality. FAILING. That's scary!
So many reasons not to pursue change. So many good survival-oriented reasons not to take time off for the dream. So.....what's your choice? Have you done your dream board yet? Or your brainstorming yet? Come up with your talents, dreams, wishes, hopes, plans, goals in reverie. Assign that exploration to your hours of antwork, mindless chores, washing dishes while you keep reminding yourself to daydream these precious things into existence and maybe even...dare a few changes! Rather than just 'bear your fardles' as Shakespeare pointed out.<------ BACK TO THE AMBITION INDEX