Transformation

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”  ― Steve Jobs

 I have this quote from the American Inventor Steven Paul Jobs on my desk.  Today I saw it; it's been there for five years, in the same spot, but today I saw it.  I read it, and it finally hit home.  I've wasted much of my time in 2016, I dare not repeat this same damaging mentality in 2017.  Even though other's opinions matter little to me, they've still had an impact on my thinking.  

When my children were babes, and trying to navigate the world according to their little version of it, I would say to them "watch your surroundings."  I find myself telling my grandchildren now to "watch your surroundings."  Shame on me that I've somehow given this advice to them for all these years, and I haven't taken it myself.  Enough is enough; I'm now watching my surroundings, which sadly includes watching who I allow to grace me with their presence.  I'm closing the doors now of others perceptions, reactions, intentions, etc. 

I'm responsible to myself for myself now.  Adrienne Rich once said “responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.”   By nature, I have an introverted temperament.  I want alone time, I need alone time. When I say "we're done here, we're done here. And I can do this all day every day. Now that I'm older, I have come into who I am, and Whose I am, I love me for me and I don't apologize for it.  I have no tolerance for BS. None. 

Remember the advertising slogan "Think Different"?  Well it has become plainly clear to me, that it's time I start to do so.  Think differently so I can transform my life.