REINVENT YOURSELF
(c) 2009, Robin Frizzell
Are you unhappy with something in your life? Are there things in your life you want to change? Are you ready to reinvent your life?
When I hit 50 life went downhill for me. I didn’t see it coming. I was healthy and happy. Suddenly my health started failing. I was diagnosed with Crest syndrome, then diabetes. I was unable to do my current job and was given a new job. Two weeks into my new job I had a heart attack and stent placement. After the heart attack, I suffered depression. I didn’t know who I was anymore. I was a stranger to myself. After months of rehabilitating I realized there were things in my life that I wanted and needed to change. I had survived a heart attack and had been given a second chance in life. I thought about how I wanted to change. I wanted to reinvent myself. I took inventory of the things I wanted to change, and then researched ways I could bring these changes about. I found out that many people, especially women, are at a point where they want to change their life. Here are some tips guaranteed to get you started on your personal reinvention.
1. Take inventory of your life. I took inventory of my life and decided what changes I wanted to make. For me those things were job, health, and my confidence level.
2. Take small steps. The first thing that I knew really needed changing was my health. Because I had so many different things wrong with me, including two autoimmune diseases, that was really a challenge. I won’t tell you that I was great at making this change. It has truly been a struggle. I have the information on how to live a healthier life, but it requires sacrifice, and I’m not good at giving up things I love like coke and chocolate. It took several months but I bought an exercise bike and started riding it for 15 minutes a day. I am now up to 30 minutes and 3 miles a day. My next goal is 4 miles in 30 minutes. I saw a tip from the TV series The Biggest Loser that can be used during TV commercial time. Using light weights, I squat, rise, curl, lift my arms over my head and then do a triceps curl and then return to the original position. Doing these between commercial breaks gives me a pretty good strength workout. I have since added some ab work onto the end of the weight workout. As I have begun to feel stronger I am more motivated to add more exercise to my routine. Now on the weekend I go for a long walk. I am making small changes in my diet. I am hoping that the strength I am gaining from working out will encourage me to work harder on my diet. All the working out is a huge reinvention from the sickly person I was and I love it. Small steps become bigger steps as you reinvent your life.
3. Learn new things. The next thing that I really wanted to change was my job. I have one of those run of the mill jobs as a cashier at a University. While it is not a bad job, and I’m glad to have a job in these uncertain times, it is not a job that fulfills me and one that makes me feel like I have a purpose. I want a job that is part of who I am. I made a list of the jobs I thought I would like, and the criteria I wanted my job to have, such as freedom of schedule. I have always wanted to be a writer, and the more I read about freelance writing the more it seemed to be the way I wanted to go. I have signed up to take Angela Booth’s “Sell Your Writing Online Now” class and as you can see I am working on quitting my current job and becoming a freelance writer. Learning something new may lead to a new career.
4. Boost your self-esteem. I used to have confidence, but I realized that as I had gotten older, I had become lots less confident resulting in low self-esteem. Instead of moving up the ladder in my career, I had been backing down it. I now realize that was because the type of work I was doing was not the type of work that was fulfilling to me. I had gained lots of weight since my last child, and I couldn’t get motivated enough to do anything about it. I became really withdrawn. In reinventing myself, I had to find ways to take care of me and become the strong woman I knew I was inside. I needed challenges that would make me feel like I was in control of my life. I decided that I would like to start with self defense and horseback riding; things that would make me feel in control. I signed up for a self defense class and have a horseback ride scheduled in the near future. As I have taken on new challenges, I am becoming much more self-confident. Challenge yourself, and your self-esteem will grow.
To reinvent your life, think about what you want to change and how to change it. Research ways of making changes that suit you and put the ones you can use in to effect. Use some of these ideas to reinvent your life and become the person you want to be. Reinventing yourself is a work in progress. Get started today and enjoy the journey.
