Amens and Attaboys

This blog is written by Lee Gale Gruen to help retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors reinvent themselves in this new stage of their lives called retirement. Her blog, public lecture, and new self-help book on senior reinvention are titled: Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire. Her memoir is: Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class. Books descriptions follow her blog below. Both books are available at Amazon.com by clicking here and here. Her website is: LeeGaleGruen.com

Now, on to my blog:

We all need to be acknowledged when we’ve done a good job. It makes us feel validated and proud of ourselves. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I have a reader who periodically responds to my blog posts with “amen.” It’s her one-word kudos to me that I’ve hit a button for her. It represents a confirmation of the hard work and effort I put into creating and bringing that labor to fruition.

Too many hold back from offering positive feedback to others for a job well-done. I’m not sure why that is. I suspect it has something to do with feeling diminished as you think that your own status is lessened when you raise someone else’s. People seem much more able to offer criticism, but affirmations stick in their throat.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I had been in rehearsals for a stage play. One of the other actors was working hard on his lines and came to each rehearsal well-prepared. However, he was having a lot of trouble managing a particular prop. I went up to him while we were backstage waiting to start and whispered in his ear, “you are doing a really good job.” He just beamed. Then he started to explain how hard it was to manipulate the prop. He seemed desperate for someone to listen, understand, and weigh in. I told him not to worry about it, and that even if he messed it up, we’d just skip over the flub during the performance. He seemed so relieved by my brief attaboy. He’s been very warm and friendly to me ever since.

Sprinkle those amens and attaboys liberally. Don’t withhold compliments when they are deserved. Be big enough to tell someone else that they did a good job. It doesn’t mean that you are lesser than they are. It actually means that you are bigger than most people–big enough to acknowledge another human being. A few sincere words, a quick hug, or even just a simple pat on the back is all it takes, which costs you nothing. And, you just might make a new friend.

Photo credit: greyloch on VisualHunt.com

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SYNOPSES OF BOOKS BY: LEE GALE GRUEN

Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy, Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire (self-help): Not a one-size-fits-all approach, this self-help book for retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors offers an individualized, detailed guide to assist readers in discovering activities and pursuits in this new stage of their lives called retirement, based on their own likes and comfort level. I learned the secret the hard way transitioning from retired probation officer to actress, author, public speaker, and blogger. Audience members at my lectures on senior reinvention requested a book on the subject. This is the result, and it contains the content of those talks and six years of posts from this blog. CLICK here TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON.COM.

Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class (memoir): After retiring at age 60 from my 37-year career as a probation officer, I mistakenly enrolled in an acting class for seniors.  A few weeks later, my mother died, and I invited my grieving, 85-year-old father to come to class with me.  This is the true story of our magical journey attending that class together for three years, bonding more than ever.  I wrote the comedy scenes we performed onstage twice a year in the acting class showcases, and all six scenes are included in the book.  I eventually transitioned into the world of professional acting.  As my fledgling, second career started going uphill, my dad’s health started going downhill.  I would recount to him each of my new experiences while I sat beside his bed at the nursing home where he resided in his final years. CLICK here TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON.COM.

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Please forward my blog in its entirety to anyone who might be interested, and post it on your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts. 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, contact me at the aforementioned email address, let me know, and I’ll remove you from the list.

Grabbing Life

This blog is written by Lee Gale Gruen to help retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors reinvent themselves in this new stage of their lives called retirement. Her blog, public lecture, and new self-help book on senior reinvention are titled: Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire. Her memoir is: Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class. Books descriptions follow her blog below. Both books are available at Amazon.com by clicking here and here. Her website is: LeeGaleGruen.com

Now, on to my blog:

We must all grab life with whatever means we have. Some of us have more capabilities than others. If you are not disabled, be mindful of how fortunate you are. Not everyone has your good luck.

If you are disabled, technology has provided you with assistive devices to make it easier for you to grab life. Use a wheelchair, walker, cane, or whatever to help you find a life worth grabbing.

Currently, I’m in rehearsal for a stage play produced by the drama club at my retirement community. When I auditioned for the part that I eventually booked, there were many people also there to audition. One was a woman sitting in a wheelchair. She maneuvered herself around the stage with no problem and no self-consciousness. What an inspiration!

Another member of our drama club is a very talented director, and I was privileged to be in a play a few years ago which he directed. He gets around on a motorized scooter. His talents as a director are not diminished by his assistive transportation mode. Throughout rehearsals, he just went about his business without giving any thought to the matter of his inability to walk. The actors in his play did the same. What an amazing person!

I’m really working hard now at my play rehearsals as are all the other actors and the director. None of us is being paid. I was wondering recently why I’m putting in that much time, effort, and energy into an endeavor that yields me no financial payback. The answer is obvious: my reward is “the sheer joy of it” and being around like-minded folks. Not everything that results in joy, excitement, and satisfaction stems from a financial transaction.

We all have a finite time of life. We also all have choices. Choose how you are going to live your remaining years, months, days, hours, minutes. If you decide to squander them on “poor me” behaviors, own the fact that you made that choice. It doesn’t have to continue that way, and you can reverse your choice at any time which, of course, is another choice.

Find your “sheer-joy-of-it” activity. Utilize whatever is available to assist you; there is no shame in that. Wheels versus legs still yields the same stage performance. 

Photo via Visual hunt

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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, contact me at the aforementioned email address, let me know, and I’ll remove you from the list.

***

SYNOPSES OF BOOKS BY: LEE GALE GRUEN

Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy, Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire (self-help): Not a one-size-fits-all approach, this self-help book for retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors offers an individualized, detailed guide to assist readers in discovering activities and pursuits in this new stage of their lives called retirement, based on their own likes and comfort level. I learned the secret the hard way transitioning from retired probation officer to actress, author, public speaker, and blogger. Audience members at my lectures on senior reinvention requested a book on the subject. This is the result, and it contains the content of those talks and six years of posts from this blog. CLICK here TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON.COM.

Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class (memoir): After retiring at age 60 from my 37-year career as a probation officer, I mistakenly enrolled in an acting class for seniors.  A few weeks later, my mother died, and I invited my grieving, 85-year-old father to come to class with me.  This is the true story of our magical journey attending that class together for three years, bonding more than ever.  I wrote the comedy scenes we performed onstage twice a year in the acting class showcases, and all six scenes are included in the book.  I eventually transitioned into the world of professional acting.  As my fledgling, second career started going uphill, my dad’s health started going downhill.  I would recount to him each of my new experiences while I sat beside his bed at the nursing home where he resided in his final years. CLICK here TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON.COM.

***

Please forward my blog in its entirety to anyone who might be interested, and post it on your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts. 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, contact me at the aforementioned email address, let me know, and I’ll remove you from the list.