It's Never Too Late (CRW150 - #8)

“It is never too late to be what you might have been”, George Elliot, has been on my frig for years. I see it every day and oftentimes I don’t even notice it. But when I stop to drink something, standing alongside my refrigerator, I see this quote and read it again. And I think, ‘Yes”, I can’t go backwards and do things over again the way I could have or should have done them in the first place. But I can move forward in the knowledge that every day is another opportunity to do things differently, to try again and this time, not to fuck it all up. At least with some things.

So, even though I wasn’t sure who even wrote this quote in the first place, it stuck with me all these years and struck a chord inside my mind, to be better and do more. Not because someone else told me to do so, but because I wanted it for myself, for my own life. Because I chose to honor a life I had already been given.

George Eliot wrote this quote in 1884 and it is still as valid as it was then, over one hundred and thirty years ago. We live with so many regrets today, as individuals and as a society. It is nice to think we are not at the bottom of anything and if we are, we can climb up to keep going. I’m all for that. We all hit rock bottom or find ourselves in places doing things, when all we want to do is the thing we’ve always wanted to do; the thing that calls to our very souls. It doesn’t mean hang up everything and leave it all behind, it means to take time for the other things you may want as well. Or go back and finish what you started, enjoy the life you have and don’t give up.

Some of us actually get to accomplish what we set out to do in life and we love doing it. But, lets face it, most of us do not. We are working to earn a living to support ourselves and our families. And along the way, our hopes and dreams got lost. There just wasn’t enough money or a way to make them work, so they were abandoned. But that doesn’t mean they should stay that way, it just means we have to try harder to find a way to make them come true. And to become what fulfills us, to be what we wee mean to always be, because it is never to late. I feel that sometimes taking chances, stepping out of our security and risking our comfort and complacency, can be daunting, but an important segway gaining the support, knowledge and opportunities we need to accomplish new goals.

I was a single mom for over twenty-three years and had the opportunity to finally go back to school and believe me, it was exciting. Along the way, I also developed new skills as I helped my kids and their community of co-op education. This grew into job opportunities in theater that helped me build two separate resumes over the years as I worked with outstanding actors and directors here in the valley. So, you just never know what will come your way when you least expect it and when you are open to new possibilities.

I am still exploring the person I was always meant to be, as I enjoy writing and art.