As we grow older we start to get to know ourselves a little bit more each day. Taking on new habits, letting go of old habits, gaining strength and sometimes learning to be vulnerable. Many people come into our lives and some leave. The grief over the loss of some and the celebration of finding new friends makes us more resilient and grateful. And every time things change, we change.
I was recently asked to describe the word imagination, and I could not find the words to explain how influential imagination has been in my life. Imagination constructed my childhood daydreams; imagining life as a grownup, doing things that seemed impossible. Imagination, by definition, is limitless and that's its beauty. It's only with the imagination that we get revolutionary leaps in our lives; the empires, the internet, flying airplanes, even Tesla cars. The great things that we have in our lives are the result of someone's imagination, someone saying "there has to be a better way".
As we grow older we forget to daydream, we don't have the time or believe in the power of imagination. The hardships we've felt make us into "realists", our lives are governed by a set of rules defined by what we know and call, the real world. But what if we could continue to imagine, the same way we used to look at a box of Lego pieces and imagined the beautiful house we were going to make for our dolls. As adults (or semi-adults) we get to build our lives like Lego pieces and if we look at life like the box of Lego, are we still imagining the way we want our days to look like or are we giving into the rights and wrongs that have been defined for us by ourselves? What if we deconstructed our lives into pieces and redesigned it to be what we have imagined it to be? We all have our passions, the kind of work we love doing, hobbies we have or we want to pursue and our purpose.
There's a line in Holstee's manifesto that has alway stuck with me;
"If you are looking for the love of your life, stop. They will be waiting for you when you start doing the things you love."
Not just the love of your life, but life long friends and happiness are found when you just do the things you love.
I have a challenge for you. Start by thinking about the activities and things you enjoy in life or want to try. Could be small things like watching black and white movies, learning to bake a 3 tier cake, dancing to 90's music, or going to the gym. But it can also be bigger changes like starting a business, running a marathon, joining a not for profit, taking an adventurous trip to Africa or backpacking through South America. There's no way you can find a single person that would be able to join you in doing all the things you want but it should not stop you! Find a pal to do each of those activities with, and if there are some that no one would want to join you? still do it, you will find new friends who are gonna start running along the path with you.