It's Never Too Late Bloomer
Debra D. Hayashi
Life Long Learner, A Creative, A Crafter, Designer, Author, Singer/Songwriter, Wife and FurMomma |
From my perspective:
"Life is meant to be explored and experienced to the fullest even if that exploration begins late in life" "An Attitude of Gratitude brings the best things to life." "Grow where you are planted" |
I have always believed that it is never to let to learn, to grow, to discover new talents or develop new skills. No matter ones age. It is sad that our society wants to put limits on others based on anything, but especially based on age. Like, as if you are too old to learn or to change course. Time is after all fleeting and should not be wasted. But choosing one path does not have to mean one cannot choose to explore another.
Lifelong Learning is something I subscribe to. And I have been in pursuit of learning for a long as I can remember. Though never so much so as in the past 5 years. I have tried and explored and sought ways to develop new skills, talents and to do things as the interests came to me. Stretching my wings. With the development of sites like Pinterest and YouTube, and blogs and webinars, etc., I have discovered, like many others, that one can learn to do anything with a little effort and perhaps a lot of practice. And many have discovered that they can teach whatever it is they know and would like to share with others.
This is a blog and website to pronounce to the world that "It is Never Too Late to Bloom." I consider myself a "Late Bloomer" because I never quite knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. Well, I thought I knew a couple of times. I thought I wanted to be a folk singer/songwriter like Joan Baez or Judy Collins; or a writer for magazines like Glamor or Cosmo, but finally, after major back surgery in my teens for scoliosis, I decided I wanted to be a doctor or a perhaps a physician's assistant.
After entering a State University with a major in Microbiology, I ended up a Theater Major at a Junior College (and later back at the University) when I quit the University to take a "Gap Year," since I discovered I just wasn't good a chemistry and lacked the amazing memories that my 5 brothers all seemed to have inherited. I ended up a Department Manager with various retailers when I realized theater, as a full time career, was not the life for me. Later, when I longed for a normal 9-5 job with evenings, weekends and holidays off to match my husbands career hours, I became an Administrative Assistant, AP Support Specialist and Office Manager - liaising between employees, departments, vendors and customers.
Throughout it all I felt unfulfilled, that there had to be more in store for me, that I was wasting my potential. Yet, I did not know how to achieve my dreams because I wasn't sure what exactly I was dreaming for. I had many interests, but could never settle on one thing. Never really mastering any one hobby. I did learn that I would prefer to go into business for myself. Yes, that was it, become an entrepreneur of some kind. If I could only figure out what business I could love and enjoy so much, what product I could promote or service I could provide, that would hold my interest to make the commitment through the long hours and hard work required to make it a success and maintain that love and enjoyment.
With this blog I will introduce you to some new skills I have explored and developed and goals that I have achieved as I continue to discover what it is I want to be when I grow up. I have discovered that at the very least I am what some call "a Creative," someone who creates things. And "a Maker," someone who makes things. My earliest and fondest childhood memories were of craft toys, like a Creeple People Machine, a miniature toy pottery wheel, an Easy Bake Oven (baking is very creative). And doing crafts in school, like making a mini quilt in 3rd grade when we were studying the Pioneers of the West. Never mind that I wanted to make the wooden long gun/rifle that the boys were assigned to make - not that that ever happens in any public school anymore. I played Cowboys and Indians with my brothers so naturally I would have liked a rifle. (Thank goodness for the evolution of a women's role and place in the world.) And I was always watching or helping my dad when he used his table saw for some project or working on his own hobby of HO scale model railroading. Or making models ships with my brothers. Girl Scouts allowed for crafts to be explored, as did Cub Scouts because my mom was a Den Mother for my brothers pack and naturally I became an "honorary cub scout" whenever there was a craft project to be tried.
So I have learned that I secretly longed to be an artist or a designer or a Creative, a Maker, but was never sure how to make that happen. I learned to sew pretty well for myself and even made a Leisure Suit for my younger brother! Wow, that's dating me. And I learned to crochet a few scarves. But the kiss of death was my procrastination and my inability to maintain a stick-to-itivness to ever become proficient or an expert. The same with guitar and piano.
And yet, I somehow managed to discovered that it's never to late to write and self-publish a book (or books). It's never too late to rediscover learning to play the guitar and piano. Never too late to take up songwriting and record original songs. It's never too late to publish a club newsletter or to volunteer at a ranch where children develop language skills and overcome special needs through experiencing horses. It's never too late to design and make jewelry and sell them at an arts & crafts fair, or to explore art through mixed media, paper mache, sculpture and mobiles, watercolors, etc. It's never to late to create your own garden art, to crochet a scarf or to explore pyrography and create a line of unique woodburned gift items. It's never too late to design my own line of dog accessories. And it's never to late to learn to use technology to create a blog, a website, or an online store. It's never too late to learn to use social media and make the most of it.
Most of all, I have come to know that it's okay to explore some things for just as long as the interest holds me and it's okay to move on to other things. Therefore, I am not someone who feels confident that I am any kind of an expert at anything to the point that I would be able to exude profound wisdom or knowledge or skill to my readers like other lifestyle bloggers or mommy bloggers are able to impart. I believe this blog will serve more as a means of exploration, logging the discoveries of my own interests in the name of lifelong learning and as an aggregate resource or a facilitator of inspiration for readers to then explore any of these interests themselves and to grow and bloom in as many directions as they can dream.
I hope you will join me on this journey and provide your own comments and experiences to inspire others along the way.
