Ever asked: has my life been a success? Most don’t for good reason. The answer must be Yes because the alternative is unthinkable. Most lives revolve round very big matters like marriage, children, relationships and employment. Who would dare conclude that any - or all - of these had failed?
But success may be measured in lesser ways; say, how many revelations experienced along the way? Not a trivial concern. Revelations occur mainly to those with an open mind - the opposite of a closed mind which is no kind of asset.
Geography. For me the USA was all revelation, good and bad; I’ve written about this endlessly. But before that, my solitary holidays in London. Dimly I perceived the excitement and stimuli of a large cosmopolitan city. Sure, there were disadvantages but I was a journalist and needed to know about things – at first hand. Rural surroundings could wait until the professional urges had dimmed.
Bird watching. A revelation that failed. For a year or so I found it fascinating but I needed a knowledgeable companion to bounce off my questions and ideas. None arrived. In any case, writing novels was tightening its grip.
Language. The seventies, a time of Euro-excitement, long before the false promises of Brexit. My employer allowed me two mornings a week (Just think of that!) to re-learn French. Years later I interviewed people in French for my magazine. But studying another language also informs you about your mother tongue.
Computers. Tools that enormously improved my way of writing (and of the subjects I tackled) plus my editing of magazines. Gorged on them from the start. And still do.
Serious illness. Bad, of course, but an unexpected and invaluable aid to self-examination and regard for others.
Singing. Ah, yes.
Not hard to know your passion....Ah, yes!
ReplyDeleteSandi: Singing consisted of two revelations; the more obvious one was the discovery that I had the stamina to make it stick and eventually reap its blessings. But the first revelation - the sudden decision to immerse myself in music at the unlikely age of eighty - was rather more mystical. There'd been hints throughout the previous decades but to this day I cannot isolate the origins of that sudden impulse, just before Christmas 2015, to "do it". And, hey! there might a third revelation; that learning to sing can co-exist with cancer.
ReplyDelete