"In this sticky web that we're all in, behaving decently is no small task." -- Novelist Stacey D'Erasmo

Monday, January 29, 2018

Pobody's Nerfect

      The theme that resonates with me this week from our Baby Boomer bloggers is self-examination. We are all human, we all make mistakes. We procrastinate and rationalize our behavior and blame others for our own shortcomings. We all have our own biases, and look for information that supports our own view, but have a blind spot when it comes to seeing the world from someone else's perspective.

     Here's one silly-but-true example. I came to Florida for my winter break. Duh . . . where else would you go?

     Well, Meryl Baer went to New York City.

     As she recounts in her post Winter Escape to the Big Apple, she walked, she ate, she saw Broadway shows, toured a museum, window shopped, and spent too much money (hey, that's something we have in common!). So visit her post for the New York experience, without the New York prices, and then after taking a center row seat at Come From Away Mesmerizes you might think . . . yeah, New York is the perfect place to go in January!

     On a more serious note, do you have a dream or goal but just keep procrastinating and putting it off? This week Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond, challenges us in Don't Keep Saying One day -- Make It Happen to stop waiting and substitute "one day" and "if only" with "I can" and "I will."

     Meanwhile, many Boomers are saddened by the lack of civility in our world today. So much for the peace and love we'd all once hoped for, says Carol Cassara of A Healing Spirit. She suggests that consciously Seeing with the Eyes of the Soul can allow us to look past our differences and our "stories" and find at least a sliver of common ground.

     She also recognizes that by the time we reach midlife, we begin to see that mistakes are really opportunities for learning. Most of us Boomers have been around long enough to know this only too well. So now Carol is celebrating mistakes on her post Mistakes Are the Portals of Discovery and she's collecting people's comments on mistakes they have made that turned into important life lessons.

     Over on Unfold and Begin, Jennifer Koshak provides encouragement to people who want to or need to start over, people who may now have an empty nest, who have lost a job, who just want a change. In What She Did After a Layoff Jennifer interviews a woman who was laid off from Head Start and finds out how she dealt with the emotional impact and found the motivation to move forward.

     Meanwhile, Rebecca Olkowski from BabyBoomster went to the 2018 Women's March in Los Angeles. She offers her perspective on the march -- what and who she saw, and how others may have misconceptions about it.

     And Rita Robison, consumer journalist, writes on The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide about the "foxes guarding the henhouse" as Trump Chooses Former Pharmaceutical Company CEO to Head HHS.

     But perhaps Kathy Gottberg has the solution, or at least an approach we can all learn from. It's a common practice, she says, for lifelong learners to pick one word to focus on as an intention for the new year. Now in My Word for 2018 she has picked her word -- and explains why it is important and relevant to her life, and maybe yours.

     So what is your word? Action? Healing? Civility? Understanding? Opportunity?

     I hope it's not: Flu. We've all heard about the severe flu season this year. Well, apparently it's hit Colorado along with, probably, 49 other states. So Laura Lee reports from her sick bed: Boomer Flu Is Virulent and Deadly. Don't worry, you can safely read her blog without being exposed to the virus. And we can all find common cause in wishing her well, and a speedy recovery.

10 comments:

DJan said...

My word is "appreciate." And I am appreciating being free (so far) of the flu. :-)

Meryl Baer said...

OK, finally decided on a word for the year: Focus. And I love the title of this post! Great job.

Kathy @ SMART Living 365.com said...

Hi Tom! Another great group of interesting blog posts to check out. And thank you for including mine on SMART Living 365 about picking a word for 2018. It really can be a great practice and I'm delighted so many people are doing it! I find it most helpful to stay focused on the intention I want to experience during the next year. You never did say your word???? ~Kathy

Sally Wessely said...

This will give me a lot of good reading for the day. Thanks!

Rebecca Olkowski said...

I read them all. Great posts! So much important information and insights for Baby Boomers.

Tabor said...

My word is truth, but that is not always polite.

Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond said...

My word is Thrive! Thanks for putting this together Tom we have some good reads this week.

Anonymous said...

I feel a little under the weather and will just take it easy for a while.

Jennifer (UnfoldAndBegin) said...

Love the title! My word for 2018 is abundance. And it's not just about money, it's about appreciating all that is in my life.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

My word for this year is Joy, and finding it anywhere I can. I'm still reeling from the death of my mother and there is nothing else I want besides to find something to just be happy about...so I seek it out actively every day. Thanks for the links- I see a couple I will go read that sound interesting to me. Have a wonderful weekend!