The sun is shining. There’s a cool breeze keeping the day light and comfortable. It’s a perfect summer day, really, so why do I feel unsettled? Why am I looking up and around with a wondering, worried, wandering feeling?
Because my life has changed. So has yours, I’m sure. It happened to all of us over the last 4 years with covid and closures. Add a flooded house, reconstruction and then, job loss and no health insurance. Even though I qualify for Medicare and filed for it, it’s been 3 months and I’m still waiting for Medicare Part B due to a corporate screw up and a slow government system.
It’s scary. And I know, I’m not alone.
Boomers are older now.
There’s a word everyone likes to use to describe my husband and I: retired. We’re supposed to be happy about it. It’s supposed to be a release from the drudgery of 9 to 5 work. But what if you loved your work? What if that was your interest, your creativity, your calling? And now, because you are a ‘certain’ age, you’re not supposed to be doing it anymore.
Is that fair? Or right? Or good? That someone, somewhere gets to decide you’re done?
Nope. Not at all. It’s ageist. If you like the job and can do the job, you should be able to do it as long as you want. I’m not alone in thinking this, there are articles everywhere about men and women in their 80’s and beyond who want to keep working and many still are.
Here’s another funny thing: as boomers are being forced out of the workplace, there’s no one to replace them. Other adults decades younger are not filling those jobs. Companies are searching for workers and not finding them.
If you want to hear an interview about ageism, here’s a link to a podcast by Mike Turner:
I’m not retired. And I’m not going to retire.
As an artist, I am my own employer and employee. I get to decide what I do or don’t do. I’ll admit that can be a heavy responsibility. I’ve been a lot of places with my art over the last 20 years: gallery shows, sculpture shows, pottery shows, open studios, online shows and shops. During the pandemic, I worked hard to figure out new products to make and places to sell them. Overall, I’ve done pretty well.
Now, I’m looking at my work from a different point of view. Instead of making what I think will sell, I want to go back to making what wants to be made. That’s how I started out. I had no finished product in mind. I didn’t think about marketing. I just picked up my paintbrush, copper, fabric or clay and worked. In the process, something emerged and I followed it.
Somewhere along the way, I decided to lead instead of follow. I was still creating but I see that selling more became the focus. Product over process. But things are shifting again in my body, mind and soul. I’m not sure what this means or where exactly it will go.
I’m sitting here watching the clouds shift and move.
And that’s normal and natural.
Just like the clouds, my life is shifting and moving too.
Time to be a little like a dragon.
Time to be brave and fly in new directions.
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