Re-Invention Re-examined

More Magazine editor Lesley Jane Seymour also regards re-invention as a positive state of change. I enjoyed her three categories: simple re-invention, dramatic re-invention, and personal re-invention.

Simple re-invention is the transition from one area of expertise to another in the same field. An example might be the nurse who after ten years of intensive care nursing changes her focus to administration.

Dramatic re-invention sends an individual into a drastically different path. Imagine spending a career in corporate life and within a year of divorce leaving that known path and starting a teaching career or going into politics.

The third category personal re-invention requires a change in one’s individual make up. A woman may decide after a recent lay-off at the bank to take the 10-month severance package and devote her energy to a total body overhaul.

What direction will your path lead you in this era of re-invention? I invite each of you to spend an hour over the next week and explore who you are today-your personality, emotional climate, physical state, sexual attitude, relationships, career, leisure activities and spiritual life. What two components would be different if you awoke tomorrow and a miracle had occurred? Identify the options to make that miracle happen. Then make this exercise your first steps toward re-invention and create an action plan to bring about the new you.

This is “the second act” in your life’s journey. Some of you may already have taken the challenge of re-invention and I would enjoy hearing your stories. Feel free to send me your story donacaine@bellsouth.net.