Amazing people with big plans.

That was a page heading on a website for a “summit” to help answer the question
“in the face of overwhelming pressure to conform, how do we live a remarkable life in a conventional world?”

I was thinking I might attend. It’s an unusual program and some interesting bloggers will attend and/or present.

But then, like a bolt out of the blue,
came this thought:
Why would I attend?

I’ve never felt pressure to conform.

So I never have.
I’ve lived life on my own terms, for the most part.
Others could think what they want,
but it’s my life.

The world may be conventional,
but I really never found living unconventionally
all that difficult.

So most people who know me would agree
that I’m the last person
who’d need a summit
to tell me how to resist conformity.

As for “how to live a remarkable life,” in many ways, I’ve already had a remarkable life.

Ok, I didn’t fight hunger in Africa.
Or cure cancer.

Not everyone can be Albert Schweitzer.
Or Mother Theresa.

I didn’t build an empire.
I never wanted to.

But I’ve participated in the best the world offered,
given back and lived fully.

I believe I’ve lived a remarkable enough life, already.

Further: I’m not sure I have “big plans” any more.
Or that I need to be any more “amazing” than I already am.

I had big plans.
I lived many of them.
But now, that time has passed and I want to rest, if not on my laurels, for sure on my ass.

***

So this question came up:
Does everyone have to make a mark on the world
in some big way?
Isn’t it enough for some of us to love our kids?
our work?
to live our lives?
Is there even room in the world for all these marks?
And aren’t some of them more like graffiti, scrawled helter skelter, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing?

***

At this stage of my life, I’m enjoying simplicity.
Real simplicity.

I’d like to write my memoir,
but I just don’t feel called to it right now.

I love teaching, but I don’t feel called
to do that again just yet, either.

I don’t need to balance two jobs, three hobbies and a multitude of other obligations that keep me from a peaceful life.
Not any more.

What’s important to me is spending time with friends, playing with my dogs, cooking a good meal, traveling with my husband,
watching movies, reading and writing.

I might still have a bit too much “stuff” according to Live Simply books, but I do have time.

Time to sit and enjoy a good cup of coffee
and chat with a dear friend.

To relax on a hilltop in Italy and read.

To take part in passionate discussions about books
with my new book group.

To work out regularly with a trainer.

To explore meditation.

To write what I feel like writing on this blog. Without worrying about getting 5,000 followers or “building a platform” to sell my memoir.

I’m content to sit with my life.

If something I’d like to do occurs to me, I’ll do it.
But I don’t feel the need to achieve any more.
Nor do I feel pressure to do a bunch of different things.

I was taken aback when someone said to me recently, “I love your blog, have you won any awards for it?”

AWARDS?
Hell, no.
That’s not what it’s about for me.
I’ve done all the “achieving” I need to.

I write for the love of it, not to win awards.
Having a vast audience has never been important to me.
And that’s the simplest, purest and truest statement
I’ve ever made.

****
Bottom line:
I’ve already left the marks I’ve wanted to on the world.
It’s someone else’s turn.
Someone younger.

So, hey, if you’re going, have a blast at the
World Domination Summit.
{Yes, that’s what it’s called. Need I say more?}

As for me?

I’ll be staying home reading a book.
And walking the dog.

I’ll have just returned from Istanbul, Jerusalem, Athens and other places with my husband.

Or I’ll be sitting in a coffee house with a friend, both of us snorting with laughter.

Summit registration? $297
That snort? Priceless.