In A Shot Of Optimism, Uncategorized, What's Holding You Back?

Have you ever been to your high school or college reunion?

Or have you skipped them, fearing you might not “measure up” to some imaginary standard you set for yourself?

Or perhaps your early reunions were brag sessions with each person trying to out do the other touting their successes.

Last weekend I went to my reunion from a small girls’ school in Washington, DC.   I was one of thirty boarding students in a class of less than 60 total.  Much to everyone’s delight over half of us came, which was especially surprising since six have died and four had broken knees, hips or some other essential support limbs the trip would have required.

The last reunion I went to was twenty-five years ago, and I was looking forward to hearing people stories. And I did!  One friend had unknowingly married a bigamist. Some had been married to the same person all their lives. Some never married.  One person had just married for the fourth time.  Some had never had careers and others had several.  We had lived all over the country and overseas and many of us had children.  Some had retired and were actively looking for the next thing and some just wanted to “do nothing”… at least for a while.

Elizabeth Crook in High School

This is me in High School!

Our class was at the leading edge of the Baby Boom and on the bleeding edge in terms of women finding work in a world full of opportunities that were mostly slated for our male counterparts. In spite of this dearth of opportunities when we emerged from college, EVERY woman had found a way to write her own chapter that was not only meaningful to her, but more often than not meaningful to her family and/or her community.

I was struck particularly by Sylvia’s story.  We were sitting on one of the school’s old yellow buses, waiting to be ferried to a reunion event.  She had struggled in school and when she was rejected by all three colleges she had selected, she was crushed and disheartened. In that instant I could feel the sadness and despair that seventeen-year old girl must have felt   When her parents called on the school they were told.  We don’t think Sylvia is college material.

Through a series of circumstances, she found herself in Cambridge, Massachusetts working at Harvard.  She participated in a program that helped her identify why she had struggled in school and how she could compensate.  Subsequently she went to Brandeis, graduating with high honors, Magna Cum Laude.   In that moment she flipped a bird at the school and said “F*** you.

But in the next moment she said, “I actually don’t mean that”.

“You would be entitled”, I replied.  And she would have.

But Sylvia did something much more important, she found a way to write a different next chapter in her life.

Each of my classmates had in some point in their lives taken charge and written a new chapter.  Some did it early in their lives, some did it later, like Carol who sold real estate, not because she loved it, but because she needed to support herself and her children.  Now she is a weaver, who makes wonderful creations.  Just like she decided to “ditch” a career she didn’t love, she is also considering taking all that fancy china she never used and smashing it up for collages.  Talk about writing a new chapter!

It’s reunion time of year and I urge you to go!! It’s so fun. You can listen, ask questions and be inspired by other’s stories not just of successes but of struggles. In the process you get to learn something about your classmates and about yourself.  The most important gift at a reunion is that you realize it’s never too late to write a new chapter in your life.

September 19-20, 2014 you can join others in beginning that new chapter at the Discover Your YIPPEE Retreat.

In the meantime tell me about some of the new chapters you’ve written in YOUR life.

Until next Tuesday.  YIPPEE!

Elizabeth

PS I hope you enjoy the photo of me from High School. Each of these tangible memories is truly a treasured gift. I lost many photos and sentimental artifacts when my house burnt down in February 1997. Instead of mourning the loss, I celebrate that I still have this photo to share with you!

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