Waiting to be Special?

I saw this Red Had lady at the Mall the other day.
She ordered her coffee, graciously left a tip and then settled at one of the tables to watch the world go by.

And she got me thinking about the whole Red Hat thing.

You've probably read the poem by Jenny Joseph ~
"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me...."

And I wondered,
why do we feel we need to wait until we're old to do something "out of the norm"?

Why do we need permission to do things that make us feel beautiful, special, unique?
Like wear a maroon shirt when the rest of the office wears white?
Eat off the 'good' china when there's no company coming?
Or wear a ball gown to go grocery shopping with your equally bedecked little girl?
(I did this once ~ it was Fun!!)

I've noticed that it's the very young and the very old that seem to be able to shed this claustophobic mantle of 'normalcy'.
Once we hit our 30s, we all become bland, ordinary, afraid of standing out.
Except when we get "permission" ~ like at Halloween or New Year.

Isn't that sad?

Why do we stifle the very spark that makes us Special?
Why mask the outside reflection of your Uniqueness?

Today, I double dare you to do something Out of the Ordinary that fills you with Bliss and makes your Being tremble with the lusciousness of authentic living.

I think we'd be a lot less worried about what people think of us,
if we realized how seldom they actually do!

The Way I See It

"The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you
you're not good enough.
On occasion, some may be correct.
But do not do their work for them.
Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal.
Don't take it personally when they say "no" -
they may not be smart enough to say "yes"."

Keith Olberman - broadcast journalist and host

This is a point very near to my heart, and quite possibly one of the keys to the length of time it's taken for me to ascend to the top of life's ladder.

I have always been very quick to "do their work for them", and this mindset has lead to a lot of "not doing". Not auditioning; not writing; not making myself heard.

Enough already! On the advice of a passage in a Louise Hay book, I took some quiet time and wrote down a list of all the things I'm good at. A little slow at first - why is this so hard? But then faster and faster, until my beautiful Cross fountain pen was fairly flying across the page!

I will keep this list in a safe place, to read through on days when "they" have got into my head - but I have a feeling, those days won't be very often.

If you, Dearest Reader, are feeling ordinary; put down or put upon; take some time to do this exercise. Any exercise is good for the body - this one is good for your heart, your soul, and your very existence.

The Woman in the Mirror

I'm actually beginning to like what I see in the mirror.

Only those of us who have developed that specific kind of tunnel vision that only allows one to focus on the "nice" and "passable" portions of our bodies when confronted (usually by surprise - like in shop windows) with a wide-screen, head-to-toe reflection of ourselves, will understand what a profound statement that is.

You know that mental cinematic trick that zooms in on a pretty nose or shapely ankles, and just fuzzes over the bulging hips and poochy belly in between? Well, for the first time in decades, the scale is my friend and I can actually see my butt lifting off my knees!

The magician's wand that has helped me manifest this miracle is a free website on which I have been tracking my calories and carbs for the past six weeks. That, coupled with a final resigned acceptance that I really cannot eat wheat without it resulting in zeppelin-like bloating and stomach curling agony. So I'm down 9 lbs in 2 months and fast regaining my former sylph-like figure.

I tell The Centre of My Universe that I still have everything I had when I married him 26 years ago - it's all just a little lower. But at least, soon, finally, it'll be almost the same size too ...