Thursday July 09, 2009 
Thursday July 09, 2009 As I was out walking the Boo this morning, I had the video reel of Michael Jackson’s last dress rehearsal playing over and over in my head. Which was really irritating because the first time I saw it, I knew I’d be very tired of it before long.
Now before you jump all over me telling me what a genius MJ was and what a loss to the world he is, let me hastily admit that I was a huge fan during the 80’s. I owned and played his music on occasion for years.
Do I believe he was disturbed, troubled and had engaged in highly questionable behavior? Yes, I do. I think that truth was carved on his face and in his public persona over the past ten years. None of which takes away from what was, and all of which contributes to the tragedy of what could have been.
So getting back to the video. Once I got over being annoyed that it was still playing in my head, I stepped back and realized that I was “watching” a 50 year-old fragile has-been reinventing himself. And that reinvention required physical strength, creativity and a large dose of courage. He wasn’t taking the easier route of his pop star brethren by doing a greatest hits of the 80s tour – which would have easily sold out. He was trying out new material, new staging, new ideas.
And for that I have to give him his due. Because reinvention is hard, especially as you get older. And harder when you’ve been on the wrong side of press clippings for years. And perhaps hardest of all when you have very high standards for your professional performance.
This struck home with me because I spent two days this week doing some pro bono communication consulting and group facilitation work for a friend – and it was hard! Fun, wonderful, energizing and exciting. But hard, hard work. And with a lot lying in the balance as I likely will be phased out of Sun completely and dropped into my next life.
As I’m not (or at least hope I’m not!) disturbed, troubled and engaged in questionable behavior, and I’m just little old me, not anyone famous, reinvention isn’t quite as a visible a task for me as for a Michael Jackson. But kid yourself not – reshaping your life is risky and hard work.
Let the joy be in the journey.
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Jul 09 2009, 02:45:10 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]
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My favorite quote which is my mantra for 2009 is: "Sometimes you have to close the door to the life that you are planning to open the door to the life that is waiting for you." Almost 6 months after I started to live this mantra, I can look back so far at 2009 and am very thankful that it's so true!
Posted by SandyB on July 16, 2009 at 08:29 AM PDT #