We Are All Actors In A Grand Play

“Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you; all of the expectations, all of the beliefs, and becoming who you are.”

-Rachel Naomi Remen

 

When co-workers ask me what I am going to do after I retire, I often joke that I will spend the first six months resting and healing from 50 years of working.  I am not really joking too much.  I got my first job bagging groceries in a mom and pop grocery store when I was 16 years old.  I have been working ever since that day.  I am basically a hermit and I am happiest when I am home.  When I leave my home I feel like I am going to battle in a somewhat hostile world.  Being a responsible adult and doing all the things responsible adults do is hard work.  A lifetime of doing it takes a toll.  Weekends, vacations, and retirement are times when we stop, retreat, and heal our wounds.  These are also times we let go of non-essentials and we can be who we really are.  Much of life doesn’t allow us to do this.  A great deal of life is like being in a play.  We wear makeup and different kinds of costumes in order to play a role and act in a scene.  When we can take the time to not do this we can become who we really are.