How a kick-in-the-butt can change your life

 

Crazy bird, she was. Only flew when no one watched.
None could keep her. All failed to train her.
Funny name she had. Time.
~ Anonymous

 

My recent post, ‘Tick tock…,’ talks about time and our elusive grasp on it. I can actually define the catalyst—or kick in the butt—that snapped me out of my Rip Van Winkle state, the one where I slept away more than twice the amount of time as the fictional character. I call it BC and AC. Before I re-enrolled to complete my undergraduate degree, my life felt ‘tiny,’ unimaginative. Timid. After college (and also while attending classes for my Bachelor of Arts in Literature, Writing & Film), my world became vast, inspired. Daring. How differently my path might have unfolded had I attended college before middle age. Yet, I wouldn’t trade my experiences or the connections I built, the new tricks I learned and still do. The important thing is where I go from here: forward.

What’s your life’s catalyst?

Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Starting at square one

[Image credit: tungphoto]

I’m always standing up for the underdog.  Or the “old dog.”  If you followed my journey as a nontraditional student, you’re familiar with my mantra that you can teach an old dog new tricks.  I see the proof of that in what I’ve accomplished since returning to college and graduating the same day my daughter finished with high school.   Maybe not a lot of new tricks in the scheme of things, but I’ve learned a great deal.  And I’m still learning.  For instance, in a Yoga posture clinic yesterday, I realized it’s okay to start over from square one to get a pose right rather than hurry along my progress and potentially injure myself.  I also learned it’s important to slow down inside of class — with my breathing and postures — making it easier to take my time outside of class to process what’s going on around me instead of simply reacting.  And most importantly, I was reminded Yoga is practice.  Like life.

What lesson(s) have you learned lately?