Ordinary Wonder Woman Blog - Evolving
In late 2022, I retired from my information technology career of 38 years. At the time, I was very careful to call it “evolving” rather than retiring, to give myself hope for a new stage of life that would allow me to still feel purposeful in some way and to continue discovering. I had stolen the term from Serena Williams—such an inspirational woman and one of the greatest athletes ever. She used it as she announced her retirement from her professional tennis career in the Fall of 2022. "Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution. I'm here to tell you that I'm evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me. I don't want it to be over, but at the same time I'm ready for what's next,” Serena Williams shared. I loved that!
I had similar mixed sentiments about leaving my career, and a sense of readiness for what’s next. My new focus areas were ill-defined, which was truly uncomfortable for me, as I’m a person who thrives on having a plan and feeling well prepared. My thoughts included: Give back in some way that shared what I had learned—completing and publishing my book being a first step. Spend more time with my expanding family and dear old friends. Continue discovering my inner self. Exercise every day. Oh, and learn a new hobby too, ideally something I could enjoy with my husband and grown children.
Letting go of a huge part of my identity—my self-concept as a doer, striver, leader in my work, to which I’ve given a great deal of my adult life, and through which I’ve questioned myself again and again as to whether I was giving enough of myself as a mother—has been really hard, even frightening. But I had this weird feeling that I was supposed to retire, supposed to evolve. The experience of writing my book with a “beginner’s mind” (a concept from Zen Buddhism which means having an attitude of openness and eagerness like a beginner or a child would) helped me trust that my next phase of life was going to be just as wonderfully humanly messy as the prior phases (although probably at a slower pace, which I welcomed). I saw it as a challenge I wanted to accept.
This is the first post of my “Ordinary Wonder Woman” blog. I plan to write about my experiences evolving. My goals are to (1) practice and improve my writing (2) share what I learn about evolving to a new phase of life with new activities, people, growth, and (3) have fun, engage readers, and maybe pique their interest in buying and reading my book (when it’s available).
I suppose my blog category is “lifestyle.” Possible topics: Giving Back, Family, Health and Wellness, Travel, Hobbies. I hope you’ll tune in and share your comments with me. Thanks!
Kathy
