Category: change

?What Seven Deadly Sins?

by worrylessjourney, posted in aging, answers, change

Here I am back again after a long time of not posting. I realized that I have spent little time in introspection and too much time doing things that don’t really matter. I have to take time to share my thoughts….and actually have thoughts. Living in Independent Living can be not living independently. It is a choice. So much is available here it is easy to get comfortable and not streatch my mind. Recently I have begun a book club that reads collections of short stories. I wasn’t sure this was going to be great but it is really wonderful. It is so much more fun to disect a short story with as group of very different people. It is a small group but has three liturature college professors. One from UT, 2 from Baylor and one from Rice. A little intimidating since evern though I have read and continue to read everything this is a unique group. The other members have varied backgrounds but all have amazing backgrounds. It makes for an interesting and fun discussion. The title of our current anthology is “The Seven Deadly Sins” a compilation of major authors whose storries have components that show one of the sins. We just read “anger.”

Enough about this. More nextime, peace, Suzanne

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, aging, change, coping

I have settled in here Independent Living and have learned a lot about what someone needs to know about taking this step in their life. One thing I know for sure is that I wouldn’t want to be living alone in the home I left. There are so many opportunities here for finding new friends and enjoying the activities.

Change is difficult but we experience it throughout our entire lives. Making a change like this can be hard but I find it worth it.

I am working on a book about this step in our lives. I have no name for it yet but think of it as Transitional Grief. That will change as the word grief causes so many negative responses. This will be a challenge but a great way to explore my own experience with the aim of helping others.

WE

by worrylessjourney, posted in challenging, change, comparisons

Today I want to talk about a touchy subject. …Gender expression. My granddaughter is in her 20’s and talks with me about friends that want to have as a designation “they.” I have no problem with people expressing their gender any way they want but I do think that there is a problem with they and them.

In our society we tend to divide ourselves into groups of us and them. This definitely puts a negative spin on those designations. Are them and they on the outside?

How people see their gender is only a small part of who we are. I am multiple people. My gender is important for me but the other aspects of ME are just as important. I think of myself in many different ways. Today my persona may be an artist or a writer. I may be functioning from a male perspective. I may be childish and not 82 years old. I may look at people as people I need to help from my years of nursing, or taking on my passion for expressions of God. I am many things, many people, multiples. I am not they or them. I am definitely WE !!

So if people want to address me as something other than she I want to be called WE !

WE and WE

Insights are wonderful

by worrylessjourney, posted in answers, change, common sense

Today I am trying a new way of scheduling my time. What I have been doing isn’t working. I have been spending too much time on meaningless things and not giving myself time to do the things that feed my soul.

In the last few days I realized what was holding me back. When I was living in my old home I did not have to spend much time managing the dogs. Now it is different. In an apartment I have to take Crash out at least three times a day. It’s not that it is bad but my pattern for years was different. I now have to establish a new pattern for my days and let that send me into a better lifestyle.

Now, back on my desktop computer and not fighting to hold the laptop (sitting in a lounge chair) it is so much easier to write and to think.

Thank you, my WordPress family for putting up with me over this long haul to a new pattern and hopefully a richer way of being.

Thoughts from last year

by worrylessjourney, posted in change, grief, growth

I wrote this poem when I was really low. It helps me to see how far I have come. It gives me hope for the times to come.

Grief hurts
It touches
The body
The mind
And the spirit

It’s toll
Can be felt
Everywhere

There is
no escape
no respite
no relief

It raises
I’s head
When least
Expected

And
Wipes away
Peace

Fear
Accompanies it
Casting long shadows
Making the world
Dull, grey

Hope is
Pushed aside
Lost

Will change
Ever come?
Hope ever
Return?

I cannot

See
If light
Is there

I only
Suffer
Each moment
And wait

The journey continues

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, change, moments

What do we do when life changes drastically? How do we learn to live differently? I am still figuring that out. Each day is a new way of thinking a new way of being. I haven’t entirely found myself in this new reality.

I have talked many times with others who have experienced something similar to my journey. They have the same feelings, the same questions, the same puzzling ups and downs. One day everything is so easy and the next is a struggle.

I know that there will be a time when I will know I have found myself. I will find myself whole and not living in several worlds.


Life is a journey and is always new. It is time to embrace it.

Not like “Waiting for God”

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, aging, change, Live!

They used to say that nothing stays the same but death and taxes. I have decided that as right as this is something supersedes these and it is change. Change is always with us. It comes when planned and when unexpected but it always comes.

Since fall of 2020 my life has been the perfect example of change. With two moves, losing my husband and my home (had to sell when moving), living in a completely different state(one that acts as if it is its own country) and living in an Independent Living Retirement place, change has become normal. I just expect it and keep going.

Living with others who have retired and seeing mostly grey hair around me has been interesting, challenging, disturbing and comforting. There is sometimes the feeling of living in the British comedy “Waiting for God.” It can be hard to accept living where (supposedly) you know you will die. You have to develop a different mind set.

In some ways it it like living in a college dorm. As a community, there are rules that must protect us all somewhat like those in a HOA setting. For those who have been independent and masters of their own choices it can be frustrating.

Those are some of the negatives. It is wonderful, however, to have 3 restaurants on site and cook only if you want to. It is so good to have conversations with people who remember the things you do and understand your references to events and people of the past. (Some young people are so clueless it make me wonder what is being taught in school.) It’s a miracle to have my apartment cleaned once a week.

Soooo, although life has been challenging with lots of changes, it has also been interesting, stimulating, and life enhancing. There are so many things to do. We are connected to the University of Texas and can attend things there as we want. Events and activities are fun and improve minds and bodies. Life is good. You just have to reach out a grab it.

Change brings questions

by worrylessjourney, posted in belief, change, growth

Today one of the posts I read made me think about change. Not just about a change of environment but changes in ourselves. Each and every day we have encounters that change us. It may not be a major change and we may not notice it at all. It is like the “butterfly effect.” Anything that happens causes change.

We can’t be afraid of these changes. Sometimes the change may cause problems because we no longer fit with people that we have connected with over years. Our change may be unacceptable to them and we no longer fit together. The person may be unwilling to accept that your view is different than it used to be. This will be painful.

I have drifted away from friends because we no longer have much in common. Others remain because they have also continued on a journey of growth. This is life. I know that I have changed enormously over my lifetime. I am a different person. I am not static and am still growing. I intend to keep on growing until I am no longer around.

Hope for change and lesson learned

by worrylessjourney, posted in change, hope

It will be interesting how this “time out” for the world will be viewed in the future. The big question is has it made enough of an impact to force us to change. Change is a word that can strike terror in the hearts of many. We don’t like change. Somehow we tend to focus on what has changed and lost instead of what has been gained.

Will there be more similar problems coming? Will we learn from this about our world and take better care? Will we revert to our old way of life and finally have the next crisis be destroying the world?

I imagine that there will be some of each of these things. I pray that enough will change to make things better. It has been enlightening and joyful to see creatures not seen for decades or centuries suddenly reappearing. I hope we can keep this trend going. There is hope.

I will hope!

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, change, hope

I have been off blogging for almost a week. Last week all my belongings were packed and I moved to stay with my family until my apartment is ready. For some reason this move was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I dropped into panic mode and suffered with IBSD. It took medicine and much coping to bring myself back. I am better but I have realized just how much has happened in the last year and 1/2.

I can’t say enough about how I long to be done with all of this. Will it be over soon????