I’m about to turn 54. Simplicity is my only mission. I’m told not to talk about my age. I’m told that I’ll have fewer chances. I have experienced being aged out. It came on the back of a wave of trauma, so I didn’t notice it at first, but there it is. Ageism in all her indelible glory. I saw a job I was doubly more than qualified for slip through my changing skin tone to be offered to a girl young enough to have sat in one of my psych. 101 classes.
The children that I taught are now being seen as more “experienced” than I am. Um? Nope. They are not. But my life, my vision, my mission and my interests do not covet any regret. I don’t linger on the door that will not open for me. I know now that it was not my door. My sight is aimed so much higher. I don’t look for the stars, I realize now that I’m part of the solar system.
Simplicity
Ironically, though I have lived in a place that doesn’t fully get me, I have complete clarity about that place. I know that there is so much more to our world, yet have little interest in finding an avenue in. I am not interested in popularity, or presented in such a fashion that others will bring me into their fold of acceptance.
Simplicity is all about seeing the light. Living in a lightness. In my heart, and in my head. Today, I realize that as I sit here on the corner of 53 into 54, I’m thinking about a time, at 21, when I was looking up at the same moon I’ll see on exactly this evening, in a land half a world away from where I am. I was in Hawaii then. The night was warm. Campus was quiet. I was alone. Very much like I am here and now.
Connection to Self
My 21 year old self asked, “why am I here?”. My 53 year old self finally, after some decades of rocky roads, high peak mountains, and brutal fires to walk from, has an answer.
To just … be.
To honor one’s self we must first and foremost stop complicating our lives. We have to stop making it harder than it has to be. Hang up the phone. Unplug the world. Take off our shoes and walk barefoot on the earth.
‘Stop trying to write for everyone else. Write for yourself.’ A literal piece of advice from every successful writer I know. This folds into what I’ve learned over the past three decades. We are not here to sacrifice ourselves for anything, but instead to add to everything.
Simplicity in all things, including our emotional connections, our ego conversations and our decision making choices gives us the freedom of our youthful, whimsical hearts to live our greatest life with the most potential for happiness.
I’m celebrating my birthday in the simplest way possible. By freeing myself from the trappings of an over-complicated existence. Simple.
Peace!
Karen
About the Author: Karen Henry [Daly], MA CRM owns Henry Healing as a holistic well-being practitioner and writer. She’s a former university professor and current scholar practicing the infusion of positive, existential and community psychology. Wednesday is my Tuesday.