Resilience and reinvention are inspirational pivots for many of us during the current economy. I suspect the bloggers associated with "The Other Mother" blog tour know a great deal about these topics either directly or indirectly.
I have a tendency to lean my own personal story in the resilience category. One that sheds more light on living with grief and framing hardship as a learning tool. However, what I have learned by rallying through and up from these circumstances is that while one may not necessary effect outward changes, others make a note of a transition to some perceived flipside. Placing what they "see" in a category of transformative reinvention or as Byrne suggests to you "walking into another room." I do believe the common denominator of resilience and reinvention is the recognition that what transpires in one's life is significant, but not all-defining.
The Story of Byrne is a myriad of experiences in this regard. As is your own story Teresa. One realizes this reading the book or watching your "The Wisdom of Quitting" presentation at TEDX Charleston in 2013.
Byrne Miller definitely knew a thing or two about reinvention. She was a classically trained pianist, but when the Great Depression hit she had to help support her parents by becoming a burlesque dancer on Vaudeville.
It's funny; because of my fanatical training to be an Olympic rhythmic gymnast, I always equated quitting and starting over with failure. One of the most important things Byrne Miller, my other mother, ever taught me was wisdom of quitting. It's the catalyst for reinvention.
She would tell me, "When what is painful can't be fixed, simply close the door behind you and walk into another room. The brain has more chambers than the heart."
In the course of researching her life for my memoir of our relationship, I learned how many times Byrne had to walk into another room. Her professional modern dance career was cut short by having two daughters, so she reinvented herself as a choreographer. When she moved to Beaufort and couldn't find enough professional dancers to support a performing company she reinvented the Byrne Miller Dance Theatre to become a presenting company for modern dance instead.
By the time she "collected" me as a daughter, she had another womenism at the ready: "There is not a contract on earth that cannot be rewritten," Here's to that!
Tell us about your story of reinvention...
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Wow -- that link to the Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette article is a blast to the past. Byrne had such dedicated board members (and dance daughters) that they carried on the work of her dance theater for several seasons after she died in 2001. I so admire them!
ReplyDeleteI thought this particular link entry poetic in that it announced the 31st season which celebrated Bryne's life which left earth in the 30th!
DeleteAs a yoga teacher I bring the topic of reinvention to my students on a regular basis. Reinvention is a necessary part of being. It is the result of learning and growing not a game to change the uniqueness of the person to a societal ideal. The "ing" is important in the word being, living, growing, learning-and reinventing. The "ing" deminstrates that none of these are static, but always changing.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jennifer for imparting the "ing"
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