change is in the air

I debated writing this post ~ it's a bit personal for my blog. But, I am a firm believer that we are all more alike than we sometimes feel. We all go through trying times. Life ebbs & flows. It's when we connect with each other & share ourselves that we truly live.

I've been wandering these past few months, allowing unprecedented work stress & family issues/responsibilities to consume me. What little free time I've had I've spent reading and just sitting... a little lost... searching... looking for my authentic self... the me I was created to be, not the person everyone else expects me to be. It's been an uncomfortable time, sensing a change is needed but not knowing what or how. Knowing something is coming.

In the last year, I've had my long brunette hair cut above my shoulders and dyed blond to allow the true salt & pepper color to grow in a little less noticeably (i.e. less skunk-like). This week I had much of that blond hair cut off and what was left, dyed to match my real silver/gray/pewter hair. It was liberating. And it's pushing me to move past this immobile stage I've been in and emerge anew. I don't know where this is going, and I know there will be challenges and trying times ahead, but I'm taking action & gaining momentum. As I learn things that others may find worthwhile, I'll share them.

As I write this, a Barry Manilow song from my youth comes to mind...

"Did you ever feel somethin' in the air

And you block it out, but you know it's there

Did you ever find, things about to change

I can see the signs all along my way

And I can feel that

Something's comin' up

And I don't know what it is

Something's comin' up

And I don't know where it's gonna take me

But there's something dyin'

Something bein' born "

And since you know I love quotes & I haven't shared any for awhile:

"A little stress and adventure is good for you, if nothing else, just to prove you are alive." ~ Lady Bird Johnson

"Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations. If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won't exist because you'll have already shut it out ... You can hear other people's wisdom, but you've got to re-evaluate the world for yourself." ~ Mae Jemison

"My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better." ~ Marlo Thomas

"Feeling insecure is good for you. It forces you to do something better, drives you to use all your talents." ~ Helen Gurley Brown

"We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light." ~ Mary Dunbar

"In each of us there are places we have never gone. Only by pressing the limits do you ever find them." ~ Dr. Joyce Brothers

"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake." ~ Marie Beynon Ray

"Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves." ~ Germaine Greer

"Some people think it's holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it's letting go." ~ Sylvia Robinson

"Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt