A la carte approach to reality. The Invisibility Myth part 6

  

➨After riding on a mini wave of joy at having a little article about The Invisibility Myth published in a brilliant online magazine: The Advantages of Age, http://advantagesofage.com/60-visible-fuck-invisibility-myth/ this past week could have been a ‘meh’ kind of time, as I went a bit off the creative boil.  Instead I have filled the time with masses of necessary, long abandoned (*resentful) practicality (*sighs).  Much more importantly, i've also taken some time to spend simply hanging with my friends. My saviours, my cheerleaders, my gang.  The people I can be ‘me’ with. The people who keep me grounded and uplifted and who are not afraid to tell it like it is, who care to come find me when i’m lost. Without them I would not be the whole person I am today. Experience has shown me that there are many different ‘chapters’ within my ever evolving gang;-

Advantages of Age article.

  ➨ The core group going waaaay back in time.  They have long dispersed around the globe following their own adventures, but when we find ourselves on each others shores and our paths cross for delicious, snatched catch-up times there is an unbreakable bond of shared history. 

   ➨There are the friends and neighbours local to where I live, who are like extended family with whom I trust the daily internal machinations of my crazy life and emotional ups and downs.  The ones I know I can call in the middle of the night for help and they are knocking on my door before I have finished my sentence.

   ➨The ones who are like the social butterflies in my life, who flit in and out and are always entertaining and uplifting.  They leave me feeling so enriched by having been in their presence, whilst often having no idea when or where I will see them again, but I kinda know I will, and there is a comfort and mutual understanding within this, that is good enough.

  ➨ The new blood; people I randomly connect with when socialising or travelling. I love the exciting injection of ideas, challenges, concepts, possibilities. The frisson of new relationships extending into the future, working with the theory that less is dull, more is always good. An intense exchange during a journey can be strangely enlightening and enriching, even though I will never see that person again. I think it’s a need for human connection kinda thang within me…..

   ➨ My Famalam.  The reason I breathe.

   ➨Last, and least; the frenemies, that you eject asap…Nuff said.

    ➨Against the aforementioned backdrop of self-imposed but productive creativity, gossip and general displacement activity, (I am uber good at the gd activity-I would venture to say I am a perfectionist) I have been waiting for feedback and - ahem - dare I say it - support from the commercial sector with whom I occasionally rub shoulders.  The photo shoot I documented in a previous posting has fizzled.  The enthusiastic and sincere promises made to me on that mid-March day-ones I was at pains to tell the company concerned, I was not originally seeking out, have not yet been realised.  In fact, until I emailed to ask what was happening with my account, there had been zero communication.  I was asked to contact them for an ‘aftercare telephone appointment’, which I duly did and had no reply….OK, this photo shoot was not for my chosen career path and was originally undertaken as research for my book The Invisibility Myth, but really, how cynical it is to have been sold a potential lie, instead of the unvarnished truth.

I made the decision to be honest and transparent on that day, and they acted like they loved the Invisibility concept. How bugging to feel the sting of disappointment - even if I wasn’t  seeking what they offered anyway…On the plus side, I have a brilliant set of professional photos for my own publicity use, so the cup is overall half-full. In order to keep up, you may have to read previous posts for clarity!  I am not good in defeat, even though I am always determined to rise above it, but will never accept a a la carte approach to reality in any sector of my life…Acting with honour is a biggie with me, and I expect - nay demand it in return…

  ➨Hearing Rudyard Kipling in my head...you can just If off Sir!!!!!!!:-

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all (wo)men doubt you, 

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, 

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, 

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: 

If you can dream—and not make dreams your (mistress)master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken 

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, 

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, 

And lose, and start again at your beginnings 

    And never breathe a word about your loss; 

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew 

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you 

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings(Queens)—nor lose the common touch, 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 

    If all (wo)men count with you, but none too much; 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute 

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a (Wo)Man, my (daughter)son

   ➨Yeah right - idealised, neat theory.  All this serves to do is make me stay focused and be extra sparkly, with a mere hint, a mere drizzle of irritation creeping around the periphery. 

   ➨Much better to mutter the following while licking my (very small) wound:-

💜You torment yourself wondering

 how they could not love your

 Burning heart 

and the answer is darling,

You are not the star

you thought you were

You are the fucking universe

and not everyone is an astronaut.💜

   ➨Hell-to-the-yesssssss.  No idea who to credit for these fine words, but it lifts me right back up to fly with the eagles…..Golden ones naturally, sipping fizz and dancing the Watusi before takeoff.

   ➨Anyhow, in the great scheme of my Invisibility Myth theory, does this little knock back make me feel invisible? No. Not even on a bad day.  It reminds me that shit happens. Would it make you feel invisible?  I hope not. This colourful life needs your smiles.

   ➨Oh yeah, not long till my website will be running, so I can share all the wonderful stories and photos i'm gathering.  It would appear that I am in the very zeitgeist of a new movement. 

   ➨Think I need to stop now….

💜Peace and Loveage Beautiful Humans.💜

What unadorned, sun kissed 60 really looks like!

A friend describes Jeanie as an adventurer of the heart and mind. A 60 year old with a lust for life, she is a mother, decorative artist, designer, traveller, Airbnb host and ex-restaurateur. Currently she is studying a Humanities Degree, having self-educated since leaving school at 16 and working on a book; The Invisibility Myth, exploring how extraordinary ordinary older women see themselves in the 21st century. 

She lives in West London and France with her husband, boomeranging children and a variety of other animals.

Chairman Jeanie philosophy