The above two pictures were taken only one week apart from each other, a view from my bedroom window. It amazed me in how one short week the leaves filled in with new life; blue skies of hope. In the first, I caught a bird flying through the trees, excited for what lay ahead in its journey. I wonder -where this bird is now?
It made me reflect on the changing seasons in our life. We move through life often oblivious of the stage we are in, but there are distinct stages which “define” us, or which society has defined for us. From birth to our twenties, we are generally nurtured as children, where the world is a wondrous place of growth. We are learning, carefree and playful. In our twenties we generally begin to the feel the pressures of responsibilities — of education and employment. We may find love, and all the magic that comes with it. Our thirties and forties seem like a hurricane of activity — go, go, go! Raising children, accumulating possessions, establishing new relationships and evaluating old ones. We often forget about the reason we are doing things, in our rush to belong to something, and to be noticed.
When we enter our fifties it’s almost as if we stop, look around, and say to ourselves, “hey, what just happened”? Did I really just go through all of that? I believe this is the time to notice who we are, where we have come from, and where we are going — just like the bird in the tree.
We have choices now, more time to think about ourselves and how we want to lead the rest of our lives. We generally don’t have the same responsibilities of raising young children, or trying to climb up that corporate ladder. The question is, what do we do now? We can choose to run through life like before, not noticing who we really are. Instead, we can choose to be what we really want, do what we really want, and choose a life of our own terms.
It is daunting, really, to think that we may only have a few more stages left in this life. I choose to look at it as an opportunity for growth, to get out of my comfort zone and try new things.
I feel like I am in my twenties again, the decade of learning and health, to discover old love as if it was new, and I choose to fly like that little bird, outside my bedroom window, not exactly knowing where my wings will take me.
