"It's never too late to be who you might have been." -- George Eliot
It's nearing summer in my garden, and we're busy readying things for the Garden Tour. Today I'm in the Secret Garden. It's a little corner plot that when we added onto the house got tucked away out of sight. I love it because it's different from the rest of the garden. I typically plant unique, quirky plants in this area -- just because they're different. Sometimes though I have the propensity just to duplicate the same things I've done in years past. In preparation today, I'm taking EVERYTHING out of the Secret Garden and setting it aside. Then I blow out the leaves and debris that collects over winter so that I now have a blank slate to work with.
Like always in the garden, this feels like a metaphor for life. I tend to get stuck in a rut, repeating the same things because they work. But I'm in a phase right now where I want to know more about me, discover new facets of life, study other people, conquer items on my bucket list, and stretch outside my "safe" boundaries. Gutting my office, my clothes closet, my computer files, and the Secret Garden has helped me start over. It's not enough for me to rearrange what I've always had or done, but it brings more clarity and forward production to empty everything and then put back ONLY things that align with the new me.
I know it sounds silly, but I always wear dark-colored shoes; today I bought red sandals. Yesterday, I planted plants I've never purchased before just because. I let go of control of several key items in my life. I shelved my ego and hired a trainer to move me from where I am to where I want to be. In a typical situation where I would normally be all in to help, I heard myself say, "I don't want to be involved, good luck with that," which surprised the other person and me. And you know what? It felt good.
Who says we can't start over at any age? I love this Facebook post I saw recently that reminds me that:
Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA.
At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.
At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.
At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed at an assignment and decided to go to art school.
At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a single parent living on welfare.
At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.
Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39 and got her own cooking show at age 51.
Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn't get the editor-in-chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.
Stan Lee didn't release his first big comic book until he was 40.
Samuel L. Jackson didn't get his first movie role until he was 46. He has now played in more than 100 films and his estimated worth is more than 7 billion dollars.
Morgan Freeman landed his first MAJOR movie role at age 52.
It's never too late to start over whatever the project is: our job, our health, our goals, our mistakes, and ourselves. The only thing unrecoverable is falling, giving up, and staying there. Those naysayers, who are quick to tell us it can't be done, probably need a do-over themselves. Maybe it isn't anyone else who's negatively influencing us; perhaps it's the voices within us that hold us back.
"Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end.
Life is about not knowing, having to change,
taking the moment and making the best of it,
without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious ambiguity."
-- Gilda Radner
By taking everything out of the Secret Garden, looking at it with fresh eyes, then replacing pots and plants in new places, it looked brand new. I expect with great anticipation it will be the same for us!
What area of your life are you wanting to "start over" but are spinning your wheels repeating the same routines?