Recently I gifted myself with the Sunday NYTimes. I browse each section, dog-earing what to read, tossing the rest. The articles broaden my thinking, the images inspire me, the theater ads make me want to live in NY.
A headline in the 12/5 edition stopped me cold: Matthew McConaughey on trying to become living art. “What if that’s the performance in this life? How can I live? Can that be my greatest art?” The full article is here.
Whoa...
What if, as McConaughey puts it, each of us could be “on a mission of how to best play ourselves” and not be an actor in someone else’s play, reading lines someone else wrote?
Seeking to best play myself begs each of us to figure out: “Who is the self I want to be now?”
The past few years have put this question to us as our familiar, “normal” life has been interrupted and suspended by COVID, social unrest, economic eruptions, and political uncertainty.
Time out
This suspension has felt like being in a time out – we are forced to sit in a corner, by ourselves, no toys, no cookies, no blanket, and no time limit – that’s the worst condition.
In this time out, some of us have acted like a toddler, ranting that it isn’t fair, pouting to gain pity, blaming all of them. Some of us have been embracing what’s so, assessing the scripts we’ve been living and authoring ones that best suit us now. Sometimes we bounce back and forth between these two camps.
For those resisting what’s so, the time out is painful, debilitating their sense of self. For those embracing what’s so, the timeout may still be painful, but the pain and discomfort lead to an awakening of who they want to be. 
Woke
Those assessing who they want to be now are discovering that their new script may cost some relationships, some career paths, some for-sures they’ve counted on. Reinventing ourselves involves difficult conversations; owning our previous self; and generating a new level of vulnerability.
As you author your next, new self, remember two things:
- You’ve shifted your script, your narrative, before.
- You’ve changed not because it was January 1st, but because you chose to be true to what you learned and experienced.
An important part of this process is to introduce the new, current you to everyone, especially those long-time relationships. The conversations may be challenging, you may stumble a bit, you may have to search for new words, you may find yourself saying “I’m still figuring that out.” Listen as you hear the new you emerge.
I wish you a Happy New You!
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