September October

Is it time to retire?

I was constantly busy, so busy that I couldn’t remember what kept me busy. I had notes, reminders, alarms, calendars, and jumbo post-its everywhere, and I was still afraid of forgetting something.

I was over-obligated.

It’s so easy to say yes to something or plan a retreat that’s a year or more out. It’s also easy to enter your work online for an exhibit or decide to start a new body of work. And then it all happened at once.

Sept 3 - Pick up my art quilt locally from the Over 70 exhibit
Sept 4 - Lecture at a local guild
Sept 5 - Husband’s annual High School golf reunion and cookout here (14 guys)
Sept 11 - Drive to Lancaster AQS quilt show with a friend to see my quilt on display
Sept 12 - Another local quilt guild lecture
Sept 14 - Pre-wedding luncheon for daughter
Sept 16 - Submit materials for cyanotype book (upcoming from Madge Evers)
Sept 18 - Drop off requested artwork for exhibit in Berkeley Springs, WV
Sept 24/25 - Visit with out-of-town friend
Sept 30 - Lunch with a friend
October 1 - Haircut and class prep for Quilt Festival teaching
October 2-7 - Hosting my Red Thread Retreat
October 10 - Dr appt
October 11-15 - More class prep
October 16 - Dr appt and fasting blood draw
October 18 - Wedding rehearsal & dinner
October 19 - Daughter’s wedding ❤️ (see family photo below)
October 21 - Lunch with a friend
October 27-31 - Teaching two classes and a lecture at the Houston Quilt Festival

Photo by Maggie Morris - themaggiemorris.com

Looking at the list now, it doesn’t seem like much, but it sure felt like a marathon, especially for a quiet homebody. It was very stressful. Age factors in, too, I suppose. Ten years ago, this schedule would have been routine. Twenty years ago, it was routine, plus writing several books, filming videos & TV, coast-to-coast US and international teaching travel, and a few children still needing my time and attention. It was exciting, and I loved it.

2024 has been a year of questioning and soul-searching for me. If you’ve ever concluded a big endeavor (like a large solo exhibit), you will understand the empty space that opens in your heart, body, and mind once this thing you’ve been driven by and focused on for a year or two is over. While it may be a sad and strange time (it was/is for me), it is the opening that one needs to ask, “Where do I go from here?”

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am 'I'?
And if not now, when?” Hillel the Elder, 1st century BCE

I’ve been asking and contemplating these questions all year. At the same time, I have been exploring different methods, materials, and means of creating. In the past, I would have spent the time thinking about what to do, but years of experience (and thinking, lol) have taught me that the answers only come from doing.

Unlike the last 25 years of my career as an artist and writer, that sprang and grew willy-nilly without any plan or process in mind, this time, I am beginning again with a more systematic yet exploratory approach based on where my heart, hands, and curiosity lead me. I finally have the luxury of time, the experience, a greater awareness of myself, and, most importantly, the courage to forge anew into the unknown. There is no pressure to create for publication, teaching, or exhibition. I don’t have to show this work to anyone. I have no deadlines or commitments other than the one in March 2025 I committed to in 2023. Oh, and the botanical exhibit in August 2025, teaching again in Ireland July 2026, and the solo quilt exhibit in 2027 I have committed to. To me, that’s a wide-open schedule. 🤪

Recently (just this last week), I’ve been focusing on getting rid of my self-imposed shoulds, musts, and have-tos, the try-harders, and the do mores, and giving myself permission to follow my want-tos and why-nots. I’m 72+2 days old now, and this is my gift to myself. I think it’s called retirement, but I do not think of it as such because I know this journey forward will require showing up, persistence, and accountability to myself. Let’s call it reframing.

The bottom line is that I will no longer be teaching classes and workshops, and I won’t be as present on social media or writing books or articles. However, because I know many artists, non-artists, women, and men may also be experiencing a reframing of themselves, their interests, and their future actions and activities in these wisdom years, I will still be writing and sharing here at Further to Fly as I navigate my new, uncharted path. I don’t want to do it alone. I need to stay connected!

Talking to you here helps me figure things out. Sometimes, I don’t know what I’m thinking unless I have to make sense of it through the written word. Thoughts float in when you write that do not appear when you are sloshing things around in your head. As I create this new path, I’ll share the insight I gain, the lessons I learn, and updates on my progress. I would love to have you continue or come along with me.

Hmmm. Perhaps I am finally bringing my alter-ego, Lady Alchemy, to life. She’s the one who possesses the seemingly magical means of transformation, creation, or combination. If you’ve done or are doing any reframing, let me know how it went or is going for you.

Quotes of the Week

To change one's life:
1. Start immediately.
2. Do it flamboyantly.
3. No exceptions.
William James

You wander from room to room
hunting for the diamond necklace
that is already around your neck!
Rumi

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating
oneself endlessly.
Henri Bergson

The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and their destination.
John Schaar