Reinvention: The Work of Rediscovering the New You
Do you ever find yourself questioning who you are? Wondering how you got to the point you’re at today? Maybe you achieved some goal or success, but it’s no longer satisfying. Maybe you feel stuck in a rut. Do you daydream about doing something completely different? Maybe you’ve been thinking about pursuing a new path forward, something unrelated to what you have always done. Maybe you don’t have any experience in it but believe it would help you find true happiness and contentment. Or perhaps your life has changed. With different needs and expectations, you may be motivated to forge a new path forward.
Rather it be experiencing empty nest syndrome, a divorce, the death of a spouse, retirement, or moving from a home we have lived in for a long time, life provides us with many moments in which we experience forks in the road, and we must ask what’s next for me and who am I now? Lately, I have been ruminating over the theme of reinvention because I believe it to be true that we don’t have to remain stuck in an identity, pattern, belief, or behavior that no longer serves us well. Change is our prerogative, and it can be positive and life enriching.
I believe it to be true that forks in the road occur at the point of dissatisfaction with our current travels. Redirection leads to reinvention. In this way, a change of course leaves a greater imprint on the souls of our being than on the soles of our shoes. So, as we grapple with what road to take, which way to go and as we engage in the work of reinventing ourselves, might we find inspiration from the words of Malebo Sephodi, “Reinvent yourself over and over and over and over and over until you find home. There is no timeline for the soul.”
Pictured: a tree that has died but experienced rebirth through shedding its old layers and reinventing itself.
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