Have you ever looked back through the years of your life so far and looked for patterns? I don't mean lessons you haven't learned, or may keep learning over and over, I mean just random patterns that don't end up being so random after all.
There are a number in my life, and each one explored is the stuff memoirs are made of:
Kid from Surrey --- CMO of large US company
Medical family --- Lover of words, art and images
Conservative corporate America --- Humanist realist liberal
American --- Canadian
Lucky the black cat --- Lucas the black dog
No kids --- Partner has four
Writer --- Writer
Ok the last one may not make sense at first. The act of typing words on a keyboard is the same no matter what is being written, but the part of my brain used could not be more different during workday writing and my writing.
So, opposites. They offer lots to explore, relationships to think about, connections to create.
curiosities and things worth wondering about brands + community
Hello. Thought I'd add that perhaps your opposites are not so opposite? Two examples:
ReplyDelete-The kid from Surrey has always been driven, and has always been one of the most successful people I've known (not sure that says a lot...) but, the CMO isn't a surprise to those who know you.
-I'd say medicine is, can, or should be very creative. It's problem solving at it's most critical point. Your real gift in addition to the words, is the strategy. The tactical approach to why those words make so much sense and sound so sweet. ;)
Time for more coffee... sitting at a cafe and need a refill. Will consider some of my opposites. How fun!
Hmm, interesting take.
ReplyDeleteSo innate is innate then, and the way one looks at the world is wired to the point that they may "show up" the same, no matter the situation you find yourself in.
The particular point of view you bring, the frame you look through.
That would mean that things that may appear opposite on the surface, and therefore trick you into thinking you are faced with a new situation to deal with may in fact be just a new skin on the same old lessons.
Sort of like the person I know who "lives 3 days in 2" in the west end of Vancouver and then moves to Kamloops. This may seem like a drastic opposite life, but in fact it's maybe really not.
Thoughts?
I'm laughing. Yes. Don't you just LOVE it when someone really knows you? I'm still living without sleep, but for wildly different reasons. Still trying to cram more life into so very little time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we truly can't escape who we are, what we are. We try on new situations, then manipulate them to conform to our personal frame of reference? While I think this may be partially true, it would be sad to think we could not escape our own selves and ways of being. Change must be possible. But is it? Maybe the opposites we create/seek represent our internal desire to know ourselves better? To grow beyond who we know we are?
Ok that's a great question - can we ever escape our own selves? If you believe you are on this journey to evolve and learn the lessons you are meant to learn this time around then maybe it's important to that end game that you remain the "self" you are this time in whatever skin you try on.
ReplyDeleteWhen that "self" figures it out, do you move on to someone else?
Reincarnation or a new character in the same life? Hmmm. Let's think about it a bit. Have you ever done something completely out of character, and truly escaped your own self? I don't mean waking up with the dreaded 'ohmygod!!!' feeling, but a real life side step?
ReplyDeleteOk, that deserves a whole new post.
ReplyDeleteThat cuts right to the question of what character is.
If I allow myself to think about it deeply, even for a moment, there is no prescribed script. Five years ago if you told me I would be doing what I do now I would have said not possible.
And yet, below the superficial surface, and the particular players, I am playing the same game.
What is out of character?
thinking... thinking....!
ReplyDeleteHow about when the birkie girl proudly wears pink pumps for the night?
ReplyDeleteI think out of character is a super interesting question. Because we all take little trips out of character, knowing we're just 'tourists' in the new role - going back 'home' soon. It's the real side steps that are more interesting and I wonder if they're intentional, as above, or happen when we don't pay attention and get pulled off balance?