Count Down
The count down is on....I'm 59 and closing in on 60 fast....Only a few more days .... and it'll be the big oh oh..... no...six oh. But honestly, it sounds worse than it actually is. At some point in my life, I realized these awkward, hard-aged milestones really do get easier....I'm not kidding. You know, people will say they had a gruesome time turning 30 and didn't know what to do with themselves, or which way to turn. They fell into a funk and stayed there for a little too long. Others say it was 40, or 50...Well, as of Monday, I will have now marked the sixth decade and looking back, it could definitely have been worse. I have to say turning 60 seems alot more low key and uneventful, than I would have thought it would be when I was 20. In fact, at 20, I would have shuddered at the thought. Even emotionally, I haven't spent days on end navel gazing or feeling sorry for myself. Some of you might be thinking, "just shut up already" and they are right because everybody is different and all I know is how I'm coping, and not how you're doing.
I think my family have been more on edge about it than me....basically because in our family, it's always a major event when someone approaches, reaches and gets past 59. You see, some of us have gotten stuck on 59 and never left. Others have stalled dramatically and only moved forward with a really good kick-start like open-heart surgery or something like that. So far, I'm grateful to say, I'm still like the Easter Bunny with fully-charged batteries. Single, but still going strong.
There's just far more to life than worrying about your age. After all, I have discovered since I've turned at least 40 the truth that people really do become more of what they are as they age. If they were beautiful all their life, they will be even MORE beautiful as they age. I see it all around me. If you looked great with a tan as a teen-ager, imagine what you will look like with a tan and snow-white hair? Fabulous. I wouldn't know personally because I don't have much grey hair, but my Mom does. If you were a total jerk with a filthy temper and really ugly when you got mad....that just doesn't go away. You may change your personality entirely though....Someone like King Henry VIII was said to have been extremely handsome and kind before his (head) injury, I believe it was jousting. After that he became cruel and morbidly obese and nothing like he was in his youth...
And aging people might live to learn a very valuable lesson....They might learn to compare themselves to the other folks born in their own decade and not to those who are old enough to be their children or grandchildren. Why compare apples to oranges? Do you know how ridiculous it is to feel bad because you have deeper crow's feet or laugh lines than someone much younger than you? Look around at the people your own age...because they are your only true comparables....As a friend of mine used to say, "don't you know that wrinkles are in?"
I have listened to an excellent speaker over these last couple of days and learned about my greatest strengths and what that means. The speaker's name is Idahlynn Karre and the work is from Gallup, Inc. Our group had to complete a questionnaire from www.strengthsquest.com first to have our five Clifton StrengthsFinder Themes compiled. Out of all these types of tests taken in the past, this one was probably one of the most accurate for me. I have taken others such as the Myers-Briggs Test (a couple of times). It figures out what type of personality you have. This is mainly like whether you're an introvert or an extrovert. I know that when I was younger, I was more extroverted and have become more introverted with the passage of time. Go ahead and type it into your internet search and take the test if you've never done so. Another test was a colors test also to do with personality style, I think it was called True Colors. Again, it comes up when you type it into your search bar. My main colors were yellow, with blue and green tied for second place. I am an oddity in that I usually don't fall into the typical results categories. I tend to be combinations of more than one. For instance, although yellow shows up as my main color (shows my organizational and administrative thinking and skills), blue is for relationships and green for analytical thinking. Many of my colleagues were fully one colour without all these other tendencies, but I'm not sure why.
This week's latest strengths-based test showed me as someone who is responsible and does what they say they will do. OK, generally that's true. Secondly, I am an achiever and push hard for results. Ask any of my neighbors who watched me scrape my garage door and 'finally' get it painted a couple years ago. Funnily enough, an achiever gets a dopamine rush when they complete a task, so that would also explain my penchant for crocheting item after item after item! A theme in my last three categories was taking the complex and simplifying it for others...giving main points and streamlining explanations. Partly because I have a hard time understanding things myself, I need to figure out a way to get it through my thick skull and try to find a way to remember it down the road. What's easier than if something reminds you of something you're already familiar with? The other part of that is because I'm basically lazy. I don't like to do something and then turn around and do it again and again if I don't have to. I want to find a way to bring simple meaning to something difficult to understand. Back in the day, my students seemed to appreciate the pictures I would paint for them (in their minds), the stories I would tell, and the linkages I would help them to make across some of their more difficult theories. I guess as it turns out, that's a valuable tool for any teacher to have, because there are bound to be students who struggle to understand concepts just like you. I also trust that others know what they're doing and am confident that the best work gets done by the best person. Consequently, the final three categories for me were self-assured, arranger, and learner. Arranger definitely goes with "yellow" and I never have less than three or four books on the go, crafts, hobbies, or writings set up around my house in "stations" at any given moment. Consequently, since much of this is exactly me, they have hit the nail on the proverbial head. These attributes come in handy not only as a program head, but as a realtor. Again, I am someone who juggles a variety of things all the time. (At least, I didn't get Input, which is basically someone who collects ideas, people, and things....a hoarder, if you will....just joking because some of my best friends and relatives are serious collectors with quonsets, garages, and barns filled to the brim!).
Some of the other categories of the 35 possible ones were those who see everything as pieces of a puzzle - connectors. Others who seek consensus are harmonizors. Fairness and equality shows a person with consistency. Typically, an activator takes action. Someone who is restorative fixes and a relator is always looking into deeper relationships. Someone who sees other people's strengths has a theme of individualization. Someone who has strong values has belief while spotting potential could make you a developer. A communicator is a good story teller, and someone with empathy is able to sense the feelings of others. No question that someone who is futuristic sees things in a future context. My list doesn't cover all possible themes, but might give you an idea of why you do some of the things you do. If you're interested, it might be an area you try to find more information about.
The other thing the speaker talked about was that 45 days after conception, these strengths are formed in all of us before we ever leave the womb. The size of the learning and strength area in the brain at that time is the size of a super highway...This moves rapidly over time to the size of a regular highway and down to a country road at a very young age. Amazing what they have uncovered about all of this.
The final talk on the second day was about "The Hero's Journey". She showed us the 12 steps that occur in every movie you have ever seen. It was amazing as she broke down three of the movies we all knew - the Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. The concept shows how the hero moves from their ordinary world to crossing the threshold of a new world and all the angst and support they need to get there. How the hero meets with an ordeal that makese them seize the storm and move on to reap the reward. They hit the wall, but eventually get back on track, resurrect themselves, and return back to their ordinary life as a master of two worlds and always with the elixir.... "There's no place like home" was Dorothy's elixir...what she learned. The Hero's Journey is a comparison for us as educators because it is almost exactly the same journey faced by our students... So true and so very poignant!!
So here I am, turning 60....learning and thinking about my strengths....not focusing on my weaknesses you might note! That was the other part of the speaker's research....Don't focus on you or your child's or other's weaknesses, but build on the strengths instead! OK, I am all about that. Performance can only benefit from focusing on strengths. You may never be any good at math, so do a job that you're good at...
As a result of all this new information, I'm motivated more than ever to work on another whole new project. Now I know a new little secret about how to approach the book I have always had on the back burner. I have so much to do and no time for worrying about my age...did I mention that?
The count down is on....I'm 59 and closing in on 60 fast....Only a few more days .... and it'll be the big oh oh..... no...six oh. But honestly, it sounds worse than it actually is. At some point in my life, I realized these awkward, hard-aged milestones really do get easier....I'm not kidding. You know, people will say they had a gruesome time turning 30 and didn't know what to do with themselves, or which way to turn. They fell into a funk and stayed there for a little too long. Others say it was 40, or 50...Well, as of Monday, I will have now marked the sixth decade and looking back, it could definitely have been worse. I have to say turning 60 seems alot more low key and uneventful, than I would have thought it would be when I was 20. In fact, at 20, I would have shuddered at the thought. Even emotionally, I haven't spent days on end navel gazing or feeling sorry for myself. Some of you might be thinking, "just shut up already" and they are right because everybody is different and all I know is how I'm coping, and not how you're doing.
I think my family have been more on edge about it than me....basically because in our family, it's always a major event when someone approaches, reaches and gets past 59. You see, some of us have gotten stuck on 59 and never left. Others have stalled dramatically and only moved forward with a really good kick-start like open-heart surgery or something like that. So far, I'm grateful to say, I'm still like the Easter Bunny with fully-charged batteries. Single, but still going strong.
There's just far more to life than worrying about your age. After all, I have discovered since I've turned at least 40 the truth that people really do become more of what they are as they age. If they were beautiful all their life, they will be even MORE beautiful as they age. I see it all around me. If you looked great with a tan as a teen-ager, imagine what you will look like with a tan and snow-white hair? Fabulous. I wouldn't know personally because I don't have much grey hair, but my Mom does. If you were a total jerk with a filthy temper and really ugly when you got mad....that just doesn't go away. You may change your personality entirely though....Someone like King Henry VIII was said to have been extremely handsome and kind before his (head) injury, I believe it was jousting. After that he became cruel and morbidly obese and nothing like he was in his youth...
And aging people might live to learn a very valuable lesson....They might learn to compare themselves to the other folks born in their own decade and not to those who are old enough to be their children or grandchildren. Why compare apples to oranges? Do you know how ridiculous it is to feel bad because you have deeper crow's feet or laugh lines than someone much younger than you? Look around at the people your own age...because they are your only true comparables....As a friend of mine used to say, "don't you know that wrinkles are in?"
I have listened to an excellent speaker over these last couple of days and learned about my greatest strengths and what that means. The speaker's name is Idahlynn Karre and the work is from Gallup, Inc. Our group had to complete a questionnaire from www.strengthsquest.com first to have our five Clifton StrengthsFinder Themes compiled. Out of all these types of tests taken in the past, this one was probably one of the most accurate for me. I have taken others such as the Myers-Briggs Test (a couple of times). It figures out what type of personality you have. This is mainly like whether you're an introvert or an extrovert. I know that when I was younger, I was more extroverted and have become more introverted with the passage of time. Go ahead and type it into your internet search and take the test if you've never done so. Another test was a colors test also to do with personality style, I think it was called True Colors. Again, it comes up when you type it into your search bar. My main colors were yellow, with blue and green tied for second place. I am an oddity in that I usually don't fall into the typical results categories. I tend to be combinations of more than one. For instance, although yellow shows up as my main color (shows my organizational and administrative thinking and skills), blue is for relationships and green for analytical thinking. Many of my colleagues were fully one colour without all these other tendencies, but I'm not sure why.
This week's latest strengths-based test showed me as someone who is responsible and does what they say they will do. OK, generally that's true. Secondly, I am an achiever and push hard for results. Ask any of my neighbors who watched me scrape my garage door and 'finally' get it painted a couple years ago. Funnily enough, an achiever gets a dopamine rush when they complete a task, so that would also explain my penchant for crocheting item after item after item! A theme in my last three categories was taking the complex and simplifying it for others...giving main points and streamlining explanations. Partly because I have a hard time understanding things myself, I need to figure out a way to get it through my thick skull and try to find a way to remember it down the road. What's easier than if something reminds you of something you're already familiar with? The other part of that is because I'm basically lazy. I don't like to do something and then turn around and do it again and again if I don't have to. I want to find a way to bring simple meaning to something difficult to understand. Back in the day, my students seemed to appreciate the pictures I would paint for them (in their minds), the stories I would tell, and the linkages I would help them to make across some of their more difficult theories. I guess as it turns out, that's a valuable tool for any teacher to have, because there are bound to be students who struggle to understand concepts just like you. I also trust that others know what they're doing and am confident that the best work gets done by the best person. Consequently, the final three categories for me were self-assured, arranger, and learner. Arranger definitely goes with "yellow" and I never have less than three or four books on the go, crafts, hobbies, or writings set up around my house in "stations" at any given moment. Consequently, since much of this is exactly me, they have hit the nail on the proverbial head. These attributes come in handy not only as a program head, but as a realtor. Again, I am someone who juggles a variety of things all the time. (At least, I didn't get Input, which is basically someone who collects ideas, people, and things....a hoarder, if you will....just joking because some of my best friends and relatives are serious collectors with quonsets, garages, and barns filled to the brim!).
Some of the other categories of the 35 possible ones were those who see everything as pieces of a puzzle - connectors. Others who seek consensus are harmonizors. Fairness and equality shows a person with consistency. Typically, an activator takes action. Someone who is restorative fixes and a relator is always looking into deeper relationships. Someone who sees other people's strengths has a theme of individualization. Someone who has strong values has belief while spotting potential could make you a developer. A communicator is a good story teller, and someone with empathy is able to sense the feelings of others. No question that someone who is futuristic sees things in a future context. My list doesn't cover all possible themes, but might give you an idea of why you do some of the things you do. If you're interested, it might be an area you try to find more information about.
The other thing the speaker talked about was that 45 days after conception, these strengths are formed in all of us before we ever leave the womb. The size of the learning and strength area in the brain at that time is the size of a super highway...This moves rapidly over time to the size of a regular highway and down to a country road at a very young age. Amazing what they have uncovered about all of this.
The final talk on the second day was about "The Hero's Journey". She showed us the 12 steps that occur in every movie you have ever seen. It was amazing as she broke down three of the movies we all knew - the Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. The concept shows how the hero moves from their ordinary world to crossing the threshold of a new world and all the angst and support they need to get there. How the hero meets with an ordeal that makese them seize the storm and move on to reap the reward. They hit the wall, but eventually get back on track, resurrect themselves, and return back to their ordinary life as a master of two worlds and always with the elixir.... "There's no place like home" was Dorothy's elixir...what she learned. The Hero's Journey is a comparison for us as educators because it is almost exactly the same journey faced by our students... So true and so very poignant!!
So here I am, turning 60....learning and thinking about my strengths....not focusing on my weaknesses you might note! That was the other part of the speaker's research....Don't focus on you or your child's or other's weaknesses, but build on the strengths instead! OK, I am all about that. Performance can only benefit from focusing on strengths. You may never be any good at math, so do a job that you're good at...
As a result of all this new information, I'm motivated more than ever to work on another whole new project. Now I know a new little secret about how to approach the book I have always had on the back burner. I have so much to do and no time for worrying about my age...did I mention that?
