It’s not about gardening – planting, pruning, fertilizing and watering – at least not in the botanical sense. And it’s not an optional activity. Preserving Your Bloom is about being luminous, not lackluster.
Preserving Your Bloom is about trying risky new things – where the process is unfamiliar and the outcome uncertain. Like I am doing with podcasting. You recognize and honor the risk. You determine to be the best you can be in an unfamiliar situation. Not perfect. But good enough.
Preserving Your Bloom is all about doing what you do with flash and dazzle. And finding others to do the things that demoralize and drain you. I write. I get others to help me with the techy stuff. (If you based your opinion of my mental prowess on my tech ability, you would be surprised that I could put a simple sentence together. I do write a lot of run-on sentences, come to think of it. Hmm.)
Preserving Your Bloom is about making time for a hobby you enjoy. Doesn’t have to be a hobby you excel at. Mine is knitting – a great outlet for creativity. Its execution fits my needs too. It’s portable. Self-taught through You Tube. Easy to do while doing other things. Diet friendly – snacking’s hard when your hands are otherwise occupied. Soul soothing due to its rhythmic repetition.
Preserving Your Bloom is all about doing what scares you. Like speaking in front of an audience. As Jerry Seinfeld noted on his HBO special, in August, 1998: “It’s a well known fact that the number one fear people have is public speaking, followed by the fear of death – that means that people attending a funeral would rather be the person in the casket than be the person delivering the eulogy.” Thankfully, like most things, the more speeches you give, the more comfortable you feel. To a point.
Preserving Your Bloom is being aware, at any age, what you can still pull off with flair – like a short skirt. The only difference is, as we age, we learn to cover up our bare legs underneath that undersized skirt. To camouflage the jiggly knee caps. To hide the broken capillaries.
Preserving Your Bloom is about hiring the right people to make you look as good as you can look, but still be recognizable to the people who see you daily. The people who see you without make-up. Without professionally coiffed hair. Without the right lighting. Without a little Photoshop. (Thanks Buni, the photographer.)
Preserving Your Bloom is about knowing when to work and when to back off. Friends and family get very irritated at me because I answer and return phone calls at MY convenience. When I am writing, I am in “the zone” and refuse to let an incoming call de-rail me.
Preserving Your Bloom – do it for those you love and for those who love you. Do it for yourself, specifically. Do it for the universe, in general. Think about what the world would be like if we all took care of ourselves. And then, took care of each other.
In 2016, let’s make a concerted effort to draw on our own resources and talents, to live life fully, joyfully and productively. To chart our own course. Develop our own mandate. Write our own script.
Aging expert, Judi Bonilla, sees Preserving Your Bloom as lifelong learning. It’s the mechanism, she says, “to explore, awaken, and nurture our personal magic…the unique way each of us looks at a challenge, experience or topic.”
I will help you Preserve Your Bloom by blogging on hot topics of interest that pique your curiosity and engage your attention. Help me Preserve My Bloom by providing me feedback on the blogs I pen. Comment. Like. Share. Tweet. We can all learn from each other.
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