Sparking Joy, Being Average

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about retirement. I’m not there yet, but slowly sliding into it. And what then, I ask myself?

I've been trying out new things. This past year and a half, this pandemic year, staying home has stretched me further. Take my painting endeavours - Please! (Sorry, bad joke). I post them on Instagram and very kind family, friends and strangers ‘like’ them.  They are embarrassingly amateur. But they bring me joy.

I’m reminded of that Marie Kondo book (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up) and, yes, I did buy that book a few years ago. But that’s a story for another day. I’m talking here about sparking joy. So instead of tossing things out, I bought paints and brushes and a small easel and watched hours of You-Tube. You can learn just about anything on You-Tube: how to remove the hard-drive from your computer (did that); how to caulk a shower stall (didn’t do that; hired a handy-man instead); and how to paint.  There’s two opportunities for joy here: watching artists at their craft and then later trying to duplicate that. Both different results, both same joy.

So, I’m adding that to my post-retirement agenda: paint. Along with my usual list: travel, write, read, hike. But I don’t dare call myself an artist. That seems so presumptuous, an insult to ‘Real Artists’. When is it okay to call oneself an artist?

We keep asking ourselves and each other: Why not do the things that bring you joy, even if you’re no good at them? You know the saying ‘It’s the journey, not the destination’ and all those other feel-good sayings that rarely make me feel good. Only irritable. More and more things irritate me these days. (Some days I even irritate myself). Again, that’s a story for another day. 

What I’m saying here is: in a world where perfection is so sought after and prominently displayed, and everyone is told ‘You are AMAZING!!’  – dare I present just-your-average achievements?