Moving Along

This blog is written by Lee Gale Gruen to help Baby Boomers, seniors, and those soon to retire find joy, excitement, and satisfaction in life after retirement. Her public lectures on this subject are titled, “Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years.” Her memoir, available at Amazon.com, is: Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class. Click here for her website: http://AdventuresWithDadTheBook.com

Now, on to my blog:

It’s scary to try new things, especially when they are big things. Any major life change, even a positive one, creates anxiety. The more the change diverges from your usual routine, the more intimidating it is.

I’m on a new adventure right now. I’m trying out an active retirement community hundreds of miles from where I’ve lived since childhood. I’ve been here a few weeks, and I have another few months to go before I return to my comfort level back in my own home and neighborhood.

Everything about this experience is a challenge.  Nothing comes automatically; nothing is routine. I have to concentrate on each thing I do, each place I go. I’m constantly confronted with big learning curves: how to find my way around this community, where to buy food, how to work the convection oven (thank you Google for a convection converter), and so much more—sigh.

Why am I doing this? I’ve thought to myself more than once.

The answer: because I want to live near my son and his wife and children (my adorable grandchildren); because if I’m ever going to do it, I must do it while I’m still healthy. I want to make this work if I possibly can. So, I stumble on, and each day it gets  just a bit easier.

On the upside, I’m having experiences I’ve never had before. I’ve encountered wild turkeys wandering around the neighborhood. What a delight! Of course,

I had to follow them and shoot these photos. Where I live in the heart of a large, metropolitan city, I’ve never even seen a wild turkey. I’ve also seen deer here. As far as I’m concerned, one can never see enough deer.

What was so strange just a few weeks ago has become less so.  I have attended a few club meetings, classes, and events which tap into things that interest me (acting, writing, horses, and more). I made a few acquaintances who have the potential of becoming friends. I bought a senior subway card. I have navigated my way around using the amazing GPS technology.  There were and continue to be lots of getting lost moments, lots of screw ups–typical trial and error when everything is unfamiliar or unknown.

I can feel my progress; I’m moving forward. I’m beginning to enjoy where I am and seeing it as my possible future. I’m proud of myself for undertaking this journey.  Just the doing of it gives me strength and the confidence that I can succeed.

Start thinking whether it’s time for you to make new plans for the rest of your life. Make decisions rather than avoiding them. Take action and move forward. It’s hard, but with persistence, it does become easier.

Please forward my blog to anyone who might be interested and post it on your Facebook, Twitter and other social media. To reprint any material, contact me for permission at: gowergulch@yahoo.com. If you want to be automatically notified when I post a new blog, click on the “Follow” button in the upper right corner of this page and fill in the information. To read my other blog posts, scroll down on this page or click on “Recent Posts” or “Archives” under the Follow button. To opt out of receiving this blog, just reply to sender, let me know, and I’ll remove you from the list.

Getting Noticed

This blog is written by Lee Gale Gruen to help Baby Boomers, seniors, and those soon to retire find joy, excitement, and satisfaction in life after retirement. Her public lectures on this subject are titled, “Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years.” Her memoir, available at Amazon.com, is: Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class. Click here for her website: http://AdventuresWithDadTheBook.com

CHITCHAT:  My short story, “A New Stage in Life,” published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive, has hit bookstores today.

Now, on to my blog:
We all want attention of some kind for all sorts of things in our lives: personal, social, business, and more. The competition to get noticed is vicious.

What are you willing to do to get noticed? Rachel Dolezal, an American author, passed herself off as being black even though she was born of white parents.  A few years ago, a white, male poet, Michael Derrick Hudson, submitted a poem under an Asian, female pen name and got his work published after it had been rejected numerous times under his real name. There has been a lot of online chatter in writer’s groups as to whether what he did is ethical. In my opinion, these moves are probably not any less ethical than what George Eliot (over 150 years ago) or J.K. Rowling (of modern day “Harry Potter” fame) did to disguise their sex and maybe give the impression that they were male, thereby offering them a better chance to be noticed, so their thinking probably went.

People use a plethora of methods to get attention onto themselves: unusual dress, affecting an odd laugh, dying their hair, talking loudly or excessively, becoming a great dancer, intellectual and academic achievement, and on and on.  There’s not necessarily anything right or wrong with any of these methods or hundreds of others you may think of. However, some might not be within your comfort zone or might bring about the opposite result by driving attention away instead of attracting it. The secret is to find the thing that is your particular style and accomplishes your purpose. How do you do that?

First you have to identify methods that work for you in your quest for that elusive attention you’re seeking. Gather ideas from reading magazines, newspapers, and books.  Do research by going to the library, navigating the Internet or networking (asking friends, relatives, acquaintances, and even strangers for advice).  Finally, observe what others do. Try out in small ways and in safe places those things that appeal to you. See how they feel. Discard the ones that don’t work.  For those that do, ramp them up and try them out in more places—cut a broader swath.

If what you’re doing is not illegal and isn’t hurting anyone else or yourself, keep at it. If you find that you’re getting the payback you’re seeking, go for it!

Please forward my blog to anyone who might be interested and post it on your Facebook, Twitter and other social media. To reprint any material, contact me for permission at: gowergulch@yahoo.com. If you want to be automatically notified when I post a new blog, click on the “Follow” button in the upper right corner of this page and fill in the information. To read my other blog posts, scroll down on this page or click on “Recent Posts” or “Archives” under the Follow button. To opt out of receiving this blog, just reply to sender, let me know, and I’ll remove you from the list.