Don’t reinvent the wheel, just realign it.
~ Anthony J. D’Angelo
Reinventing suggests compartmentalizing the entirety of our talents. Instead of looking at each new venture as something separate, a section or a small slice of who we are, we can choose to see it as a continuation and expansion of our being.
Every new endeavor is a compilation of our skills. We bring to the table the wisdom and lessons from everything that has landed us where we are at this moment in time. If we are transitioning from one field to another, we bring our lifetime of expertise with us.
We may don different hats, shifting our focus to new titles, yet we do not negate our prior achievements, professions, challenges, or failures. They constitute the totality of who we are, and the new hats worn benefit from those experiences.
The ever-present topic about reinventing ourselves strikes an off-key chord in me. Because of the visceral feeling I get when I hear the term being used, it forced me to look at its meaning.
Words are the power we have to create the worlds we want. Using words to describe how we align with our core truth is the paint that colors how others see us.
The prefix re means to do again or go backward; invent can mean either to create/ design or fabricate/fake. To reinvent means to re-make or re-do something thoroughly, to change it so much that it appears to be entirely new.
Are we genuinely changing completely when we exclaim we are reinventing ourselves?
When building a better mousetrap, we don’t toss away everything that works. We look at what runs well and then make adjustments to improve it.
As far as reinventing the wheel, has anyone succeeded? We have taken the core function of the wheel and utilized it in new and innovative ways. Yet, the foundational principle of the wheel contributes to the underlying functionality of the innovation. The intrinsic value has not changed.
Our lives are a work in progress. Each step we have taken, every mistake we have made, the comprehensive experiences we have had, are the elements that create and comprise the framework of who we are.
When we remake, renew, revive, restore, refresh, reopen or reawaken, we bring back to what was, not discarding the foundation of what is.
The image of a blossom comes to mind when I think of becoming more. Each petal an unfolding of a skill, trait, emotion, or talent. Together they come to create who we are, and each stage of the blossom has a fullness all its own.
Even when the petals dry and fall, they transform into nourishment for the soil or transmute into potpourri, not reinventing their source as a flower but instead extending their essence into a new form.
So I pose the question, does re-invent make sense to you? Are you discarding everything that has made you who you are to re-invent yourself into someone else?
I think it is actually impossible to do. We cannot forget who we are unless, of course, we have amnesia.
Repackaging, relaunching, transforming, growing, and weaving together everything we have learned is our strength. Re-inventing discounts the totality of our wholeness. It is implying a subtraction of value rather than an addition.
Reframing the idea of re-inventing brings me to the thought of returning to our source, embracing the uniqueness of us as individuals. Stop re-inventing yourself and instead salute and honor the cumulative knowledge you have gained on this journey of life. Embarking on a new venture is the next chapter in the adventure of our lives. Re-inventing ourselves is a journey back to who we are meant to be.
No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.
~Madonna
Originally posted under a different title: https://kuellife.com/reinventing-ourselves/
