I am currently in my corporate self era, but I am an outsider. I do not fit into this box and I can’t wait to snatch my corporate self coat off and fling it into a fire. I should write that opportunity into my script.
Dear Rachel: You are spot on! write an opportunity of doing things that make you feel fulfilled! Experiment with diffrent versions, see what fits/feels right! Cheering you on, in your own reinvention! M
I’m starting my next writing session with the line that jumped off the page at me: I walked through those doors wearing my corporate role as a coat I could take off.
I’ve been carrying my career role as my Whole identity until I hit that wall and had to question it all. The analogy of it being a coat shifts the weight, loosens the chains if you will. I am not a XX…I am a woman who does XX at this time, and writes at other times (a different coat), and lounges leisurely at other times (definitely for the next hour 😊). The coat metaphor struck me because I am a coat nut. I wear a different one every day. I Choose coats, I am not the coat.
Dear Lashandra: I love that you wear a diffrent coat every day - what FUN! and yes, we get to choose! Would love to see a photo of your favorite coat/and or color palates that you love!
Dear Lashanda: I'm so glad to hear that it resonated with you and that you had such a visceral response! Sometimes it's helps to hear/read reframes so it's easier to pivot. Cheers to reinvention! M
Between the ages of 0 and 18, I moved sixteen times and attended fourteen schools across four continents. After that, I joined a coffeehouse band that eventually got signed; we moved to Hollywood and almost immediately began touring. Over the next decade, I transformed into a personal trainer, a burlesque performer, a law firm administrator, a San Francisco poster artist, a creative director for luxury home goods, and eventually, a brand strategist and digital transformation expert.
In addition to all that, my life has been disrupted by two devastating fires and a devastating flood—both of which have now become family in-jokes.
All this to say, I agree with your premise! I've reinvented myself enough times to make cats give up trying to compete.
Early on, in the cycle of forced reinvention of my childhood, I realized what a gift it was to be able to inhabit a new story every year or so. I write about this in my book, Create What Others Miss. I would love to send you a copy. I believe you'll recognize yourself in it! If you're interested in connecting, please DM me.
And stay the course, courageous and curious! The world needs more of all that! :)
I relate to your story. I’m there with you. I’ve “reinvented” myself - I can’t say how many times and how many ways. I can’t know when one ended and another started because they were in so many intertwined ways.
I feel reinvented very often - not only in work, but marriage, relationships, community, for some.
Sometimes excruciating, always elevating! Never forced… and right now:) in this moment, relating thru Substack.
Surely more to come. Maybe more “recalibration” than reinvention.
What a life you have lived!. Sixteen moves, fourteen schools, four continents, and that is before the band even gets signed. I read the whole thing twice and grinned both times.
You named something I feel deeply. Forced reinvention can land as a wound, yet you turned it early into a gift, the freedom to inhabit a new story every year or so. Not everyone gets there. Fewer still find the words for it.
The fires and the flood becoming family in-jokes might be the most reinventer thing I have ever heard. That is the whole craft, really. Taking what tried to break you and handing it back as a story you get to tell.
Yes, I would love a copy . The title alone tells me I will recognise myself in those pages. I am sending you a DM now.
Stay curious. The world is better for people who keep choosing to begin again.
I’m wondering how you got through those doors. How did you get hired for roles in which you had no experience?
I gave up getting hired around 10 years ago because I could not get even jobs I was highly skilled at and absolutely perfect for. It was an expensive waste of time to keep applying and applying — I needed income so struck off on my own.
Dear Michelle: this is such a great question! The how, ties to my tenacity (lol) - depending on you look at that it can be good or bad - but I just don't give up. I show up, and volunteer, I try, I experiment, I just keep tiering people out with my persistence (lol)...Congratulations on taking off on your own! That requires even more courage and tenacity!
I did all those things but they did not pay off! That’s why I’m so surprised they worked for you. After my unemployment ran out, I had to have some income, so I turned to working for myself out of necessity because the job search and networking and resume reworking and all the rest equaled an unpaid FT job.
My previous career is out, as the newspaper industry has collapsed. I simply could not convince any adjacent industry that my skills translated. Of course, all my professional contacts were also from the same dead industry. No potential employer cared that a bunch of former journalists had glowing things to say about me.
My age when I had to pivot was probably not in my favor — switching careers may have been easier at a younger age. Perhaps.
Not being able to earn a steady paycheck for the last 10 years has pretty much ruined any chance of retirement and doomed me to a very lean old age.
Until recently I used to occasionally apply to something that seemed like a perfect match, but I never heard back from any of those. I got the message and doubled down on trying to make money myself.
What you did do is hard and real. When the job search became its own unpaid full-time job, you stopped feeding a machine that kept saying no and started building something that answers to you. That is its own kind of courage, and it does not erase the cost.
Just as I finished reading this article, I looked up and saw my stack of journals that I wrote since 2008.
When I read through those every once in a while, I am so amazed at the things I 'prophesied' on paper and how it unfolded and became reality in my life.
I sometimes see those words on those pages and I know it is my handwriting, but the words feels to clever and wise.
Then I realize how spiritual writing actually is...
It is an act that connects our desires of another time and place to the now. Writing about my future is a mid-wife that delivers new life so unexpectedly.
Dear Jaco: I love your discover, your aha moment how writing played in unfolding your life and how it all become a reality! That's amazing! Keep going, cheering you on, M!
Excellent post, and quite spooky for me. I feel I have been on a similar course, and am in the process of my next reinvention right now. It looks as if the need for reinvention is becoming more frequent, and it is also valuable to keep parts of the old me in play so I can cover all the bases. On the writing, I have been doing it, a hand-written page at a time, for several years now. It's amazing what comes up out of the subconscious. I have even published two books containing my intuitive writing - 'Future Perfect Now' and 'Breathe In' to see if others connect with the process.
Dear Lewis: I'm so glad that it resonated with you! and you are so spot on that it seems that there is a need for reinvention that is more frequent than ever before! Hence, preparing and embracing both the change and the reinvention makes a huge difference in being the the driver seat! Congrats on your books! Keep writing and reinventing! Cheering you on, M!
Thank you, Magdalena, for your kind comments. I have long been convinced that our true humanity lives in the right brain, in creativity and at our mysterious core. It seems to be a challenge, though, to find others who recognize or understand its crucial importance, especially in this ominous time of change - rather than viewing it as a 'feel good' recreational option. What do you think?
I'm a big proponent of living and using both parts of the brain :-). The art of deep thinking, creativity, innovation, metacognition - needs both parts - we just get to use it - and the more we do it the easier it is to rewrite and rewire ...
I enjoyed reading this. In reality, we’re constantly rebuilding and starting over. Not always in grand ways, and more often in taking smaller actions, learning to think differently, and viewing things from a different perspective.
Dear Anon: I'm so glad that it resonated with you and that you are taking action aka: making the time to sit down and write it out! That's the best first step, that's where clarity starts! Cheering you on, M!
I absolutely loved how you described your reinvention and your 7 lives. It's funny how you don't realize when it happens, only when you look back. It made me think about my own journey and how every piece played its role. Wonderful writing!
Dear Veronica: Thank you so much for your kind words and I'm so glad that it resonated with you! It is truly remarkable, how reinvention happens and we get to recognize it by reflecting and pausing! Sending you lots of hugs!
We have never met yet I feel like you wrote this directly into my brain and heart. I am in the middle, not by choice but by time and circumstance. I don't miss what I've lost, but I am not sure what I want. I am finding that liberating and paralyzing at the same time. I am suddenly my own paradox. I will try this, and literally get off the screens and try some good old fashioned paper and pen. It just might become my vision board that gets framed in my next home.
Dear Stuck in the Middle: I'm so glad that it resonated with you! I love how you discovered that you are your own paradox - love it! own it! explore it, with pen paper, glue magazine, markers, - whatever feels good and aligned! give yourself permission to BE Your OWN Vision Board! Cheering you in your own reinvention!
Suzanne, how open you are, and clear!! Wow. I like to write, too, and draw stick people and stick things. Maybe this will help you…
You might consider starting from “not knowing” rather than figuring it out then writing.
With nothing in mind, you can sit down and just write some words or make some scribbles. These can eventually reflect back some of the deepest surprises and secrets that are trying to hide in your body and mind. It can reveal them to you in a pleasant way, not reliving the trauma.
This fun thing has changed me inside out in ways I’d never expected.
The invitation is to have colored pens or pencils and paper Always In Sight.
The idea is to think something like: “I’m moved to express in my favorite way… something I can’t name. I can’t wait to see what it looks like.” No goal or end point, no but I can’t because’s (ie I’m too constrained), no seeking to “know” first…
Just yes do and have fun surprising yourself. Start by setting up a special space with colored pens, pencils, and paper, and maybe even a flower.
I so enjoyed reading this. It really pulled me in. I loved hearing about your journey and how you evolved , reinvented yourself. I can see in-between and the huge shifts and an incredible powerful piece this leads to. I am familiar with different processes of creating , imagining, feeling, and being. But life got very complicated in recent years and it's been difficult to see in this fog. Thank you for the reminder and the inspiration to pick up the pen.
Dear Heather: thank you for your kind and supportive words! I'm so happy it resonated with you! I can relate to "difficult to see in this fog" - you are spot on - in the inquiry of how do "see" and how to we reinvent when we are in the midst of the fog or sometimes we even are not aware that the fog is there! I will for sure do some more deeper thinking on that..Cheering you on in your reinvention - fog and all! You've got this M!
This is so helpful, thank you.
I am currently in my corporate self era, but I am an outsider. I do not fit into this box and I can’t wait to snatch my corporate self coat off and fling it into a fire. I should write that opportunity into my script.
Dear Rachel: You are spot on! write an opportunity of doing things that make you feel fulfilled! Experiment with diffrent versions, see what fits/feels right! Cheering you on, in your own reinvention! M
I’m starting my next writing session with the line that jumped off the page at me: I walked through those doors wearing my corporate role as a coat I could take off.
I felt my whole body shift with that line!
Say more, please. I’m intrigued by your visceral response.
I’ve been carrying my career role as my Whole identity until I hit that wall and had to question it all. The analogy of it being a coat shifts the weight, loosens the chains if you will. I am not a XX…I am a woman who does XX at this time, and writes at other times (a different coat), and lounges leisurely at other times (definitely for the next hour 😊). The coat metaphor struck me because I am a coat nut. I wear a different one every day. I Choose coats, I am not the coat.
"I choose coats, I am not the coat." Brilliantly stated!
Dear Lashandra: I love that you wear a diffrent coat every day - what FUN! and yes, we get to choose! Would love to see a photo of your favorite coat/and or color palates that you love!
Dear Lashanda: I'm so glad to hear that it resonated with you and that you had such a visceral response! Sometimes it's helps to hear/read reframes so it's easier to pivot. Cheers to reinvention! M
Between the ages of 0 and 18, I moved sixteen times and attended fourteen schools across four continents. After that, I joined a coffeehouse band that eventually got signed; we moved to Hollywood and almost immediately began touring. Over the next decade, I transformed into a personal trainer, a burlesque performer, a law firm administrator, a San Francisco poster artist, a creative director for luxury home goods, and eventually, a brand strategist and digital transformation expert.
In addition to all that, my life has been disrupted by two devastating fires and a devastating flood—both of which have now become family in-jokes.
All this to say, I agree with your premise! I've reinvented myself enough times to make cats give up trying to compete.
Early on, in the cycle of forced reinvention of my childhood, I realized what a gift it was to be able to inhabit a new story every year or so. I write about this in my book, Create What Others Miss. I would love to send you a copy. I believe you'll recognize yourself in it! If you're interested in connecting, please DM me.
And stay the course, courageous and curious! The world needs more of all that! :)
I relate to your story. I’m there with you. I’ve “reinvented” myself - I can’t say how many times and how many ways. I can’t know when one ended and another started because they were in so many intertwined ways.
I feel reinvented very often - not only in work, but marriage, relationships, community, for some.
Sometimes excruciating, always elevating! Never forced… and right now:) in this moment, relating thru Substack.
Surely more to come. Maybe more “recalibration” than reinvention.
I love people here and gut-posts.
What a life you have lived!. Sixteen moves, fourteen schools, four continents, and that is before the band even gets signed. I read the whole thing twice and grinned both times.
You named something I feel deeply. Forced reinvention can land as a wound, yet you turned it early into a gift, the freedom to inhabit a new story every year or so. Not everyone gets there. Fewer still find the words for it.
The fires and the flood becoming family in-jokes might be the most reinventer thing I have ever heard. That is the whole craft, really. Taking what tried to break you and handing it back as a story you get to tell.
Yes, I would love a copy . The title alone tells me I will recognise myself in those pages. I am sending you a DM now.
Stay curious. The world is better for people who keep choosing to begin again.
I’m wondering how you got through those doors. How did you get hired for roles in which you had no experience?
I gave up getting hired around 10 years ago because I could not get even jobs I was highly skilled at and absolutely perfect for. It was an expensive waste of time to keep applying and applying — I needed income so struck off on my own.
Dear Michelle: this is such a great question! The how, ties to my tenacity (lol) - depending on you look at that it can be good or bad - but I just don't give up. I show up, and volunteer, I try, I experiment, I just keep tiering people out with my persistence (lol)...Congratulations on taking off on your own! That requires even more courage and tenacity!
I did all those things but they did not pay off! That’s why I’m so surprised they worked for you. After my unemployment ran out, I had to have some income, so I turned to working for myself out of necessity because the job search and networking and resume reworking and all the rest equaled an unpaid FT job.
My previous career is out, as the newspaper industry has collapsed. I simply could not convince any adjacent industry that my skills translated. Of course, all my professional contacts were also from the same dead industry. No potential employer cared that a bunch of former journalists had glowing things to say about me.
My age when I had to pivot was probably not in my favor — switching careers may have been easier at a younger age. Perhaps.
Not being able to earn a steady paycheck for the last 10 years has pretty much ruined any chance of retirement and doomed me to a very lean old age.
Until recently I used to occasionally apply to something that seemed like a perfect match, but I never heard back from any of those. I got the message and doubled down on trying to make money myself.
What you did do is hard and real. When the job search became its own unpaid full-time job, you stopped feeding a machine that kept saying no and started building something that answers to you. That is its own kind of courage, and it does not erase the cost.
Just as I finished reading this article, I looked up and saw my stack of journals that I wrote since 2008.
When I read through those every once in a while, I am so amazed at the things I 'prophesied' on paper and how it unfolded and became reality in my life.
I sometimes see those words on those pages and I know it is my handwriting, but the words feels to clever and wise.
Then I realize how spiritual writing actually is...
It is an act that connects our desires of another time and place to the now. Writing about my future is a mid-wife that delivers new life so unexpectedly.
Thank you for this post.
Dear Jaco: I love your discover, your aha moment how writing played in unfolding your life and how it all become a reality! That's amazing! Keep going, cheering you on, M!
Excellent post, and quite spooky for me. I feel I have been on a similar course, and am in the process of my next reinvention right now. It looks as if the need for reinvention is becoming more frequent, and it is also valuable to keep parts of the old me in play so I can cover all the bases. On the writing, I have been doing it, a hand-written page at a time, for several years now. It's amazing what comes up out of the subconscious. I have even published two books containing my intuitive writing - 'Future Perfect Now' and 'Breathe In' to see if others connect with the process.
Dear Lewis: I'm so glad that it resonated with you! and you are so spot on that it seems that there is a need for reinvention that is more frequent than ever before! Hence, preparing and embracing both the change and the reinvention makes a huge difference in being the the driver seat! Congrats on your books! Keep writing and reinventing! Cheering you on, M!
Thank you, Magdalena, for your kind comments. I have long been convinced that our true humanity lives in the right brain, in creativity and at our mysterious core. It seems to be a challenge, though, to find others who recognize or understand its crucial importance, especially in this ominous time of change - rather than viewing it as a 'feel good' recreational option. What do you think?
I'm a big proponent of living and using both parts of the brain :-). The art of deep thinking, creativity, innovation, metacognition - needs both parts - we just get to use it - and the more we do it the easier it is to rewrite and rewire ...
I enjoyed reading this. In reality, we’re constantly rebuilding and starting over. Not always in grand ways, and more often in taking smaller actions, learning to think differently, and viewing things from a different perspective.
Dear Belle: thank you for your kind words! I'm so glad that it resonated with you!
Very excited to write from the future six months ago. Planned that all would be well at the six month mark.
100% not the case. Old problems not resolved and new and more complex problems arrive with immediacy.
Still searching for something that works. Maybe in six months.
Dear Anon: I'm so glad that it resonated with you and that you are taking action aka: making the time to sit down and write it out! That's the best first step, that's where clarity starts! Cheering you on, M!
Not sure you understood what I wrote.
I absolutely loved how you described your reinvention and your 7 lives. It's funny how you don't realize when it happens, only when you look back. It made me think about my own journey and how every piece played its role. Wonderful writing!
Dear Veronica: Thank you so much for your kind words and I'm so glad that it resonated with you! It is truly remarkable, how reinvention happens and we get to recognize it by reflecting and pausing! Sending you lots of hugs!
Tried again still not luck. The message was something like ‘an error occurred repeatedly on Luma’
Sorry about that - sending you DM!
this is such a thoughtful piece, bookmarking it for later @stacksave
Dear Yuvika: thank you for your kind and supportive words, I'm so glad that it resonated with you !
it was lovely Magdalena! thank u for sharing !
You very welcome, Yuvika!
Thank you for sharing this perspective. Future writing is a powerful and accessible tool.
Dear Cheryl: I'm so glad that it resonates with you! Cheers to reinvention! M
We have never met yet I feel like you wrote this directly into my brain and heart. I am in the middle, not by choice but by time and circumstance. I don't miss what I've lost, but I am not sure what I want. I am finding that liberating and paralyzing at the same time. I am suddenly my own paradox. I will try this, and literally get off the screens and try some good old fashioned paper and pen. It just might become my vision board that gets framed in my next home.
Dear Stuck in the Middle: I'm so glad that it resonated with you! I love how you discovered that you are your own paradox - love it! own it! explore it, with pen paper, glue magazine, markers, - whatever feels good and aligned! give yourself permission to BE Your OWN Vision Board! Cheering you in your own reinvention!
Suzanne, how open you are, and clear!! Wow. I like to write, too, and draw stick people and stick things. Maybe this will help you…
You might consider starting from “not knowing” rather than figuring it out then writing.
With nothing in mind, you can sit down and just write some words or make some scribbles. These can eventually reflect back some of the deepest surprises and secrets that are trying to hide in your body and mind. It can reveal them to you in a pleasant way, not reliving the trauma.
This fun thing has changed me inside out in ways I’d never expected.
The invitation is to have colored pens or pencils and paper Always In Sight.
The idea is to think something like: “I’m moved to express in my favorite way… something I can’t name. I can’t wait to see what it looks like.” No goal or end point, no but I can’t because’s (ie I’m too constrained), no seeking to “know” first…
Just yes do and have fun surprising yourself. Start by setting up a special space with colored pens, pencils, and paper, and maybe even a flower.
I so enjoyed reading this. It really pulled me in. I loved hearing about your journey and how you evolved , reinvented yourself. I can see in-between and the huge shifts and an incredible powerful piece this leads to. I am familiar with different processes of creating , imagining, feeling, and being. But life got very complicated in recent years and it's been difficult to see in this fog. Thank you for the reminder and the inspiration to pick up the pen.
Dear Heather: thank you for your kind and supportive words! I'm so happy it resonated with you! I can relate to "difficult to see in this fog" - you are spot on - in the inquiry of how do "see" and how to we reinvent when we are in the midst of the fog or sometimes we even are not aware that the fog is there! I will for sure do some more deeper thinking on that..Cheering you on in your reinvention - fog and all! You've got this M!
Magdalena, I LOVE the way you write! "My accent appeared in every room a half second before I did."
Marvelous!
BTW, what you're calling "the first reinvention" is what I call, "read the room" lol.
Ha! Oh, I gotta go back and finish reading....
I just had to come here and wave at ya, girlie!
👍 🤜🤛
(I can't wait to read more!)
Dear Jeffro55: I'm so glad that it resonated with you, and thank you for your kind words!