Dancing to your own beat
In this ever faster moving world, where the masses, demand, bigger, faster, better, cheaper I find myself no longer wanting to follow the throng, the crowd, the herd.
Maybe it’s my age, I don’t know for sure what it is, what I do know is I don’t want to play anymore, it’s time for me to let it go.
I’ve mostly danced to the beat of my own drum over my life and after I met my husband we danced to a twin beat together. We didn’t raised our children as sheep, but as thinkers and questioners and doers. There’s nothing wrong with that. Ask why? Think about what’s happening in the world today, they are all smart. Smart enough to know when they are being lied to or “fed a line” there’s a phrase I like from a Clint Eastwood film, “The outlaw Josey Wells”, it goes, “Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining”. A good phrase to bear in mind I think, for not everybody speaks the truth, especially in politics. Where you never seem to get a straight answer from any of them for anything.
Realization of not wanting to follow the herd any more is liberating, for me by the time I was 16 I’d already started to think I’m not a fashion victim, no platform shoes for me. I’m not wearing those slacks with that tartan pattern and I didn’t like high waisted jeans. From that point on I changed and I started to make my own clothes and remodel outfits to suit my taste.
Unlike a lot of my friends, I didn’t get one job and stick at it, I tried lots of different ones to see if I liked it. If I didn’t I would move on to something else, I remember my father shaking his head and laughing when I told him I’d changed jobs yet again because I didn’t like the one I’d had previously. Life’s too short to be stuck slaving away working in a factory. I did try working in a couple of factories but didn’t like it much. But I was lucky I had the choice to leave.
I’ve been quite a few things in my working career and I don’t regret the experience at all, it was fun, some harder than others physically wise, but that’s ok. I’m not against a bit of hard work. I tried everything I could to find the job I wanted the most. It has nothing to do with following the herd, it was about following my heart and head, cos you’ve always got to keep your eye on the money.
So here we are now, nearer to end of our life than the beginning. When I look back I can honestly say I don’t regret any of it. Not the house moves, not the changing of professions, not the dancing of the beat to our own drum, it’s been a blast.
Ok I might need to get a walker if I had to dance for long so what? I’ve danced in the rain barefoot, walked across the hot sands of other countries, ate delicious foods from far away places, been a mum and it was the best thing I ever did, loved and been loved.
It’s been great, if I had to do it all again, I would.
I’ve been lucky.
So, here’s to your journey and your story, don’t let anyone write it for you.
Do it yourself, write your own. Don’t be afraid to try.
Here’s to you and what you can achieve.