The Power of Reinvention

Reinvent. A powerful word…at least for me anyway. You might say it is my word for this next chapter of my life. A chapter that isn’t written yet, but has the framework to be something. My framework is sketched out in my mind. It’s both tangible and abstract. It’s cluttered one day and organized the next. Some days it taunts me and other days it cheers me on. It’s beautiful and ugly and quiet and loud. It’s stable and steady. But then, on other days, it’s fragile. And with each ounce of fragility, I am reminded of my strength, which eventually gains ground. And I am propelled forward and can see the framework becoming more than just a structure.

Reinvent, as defined by Dictionary.com is “to remake or make over, as in a different form.” To remake or make over. I love the meaning of the word. I love the possibilities that are inherent in grabbing hold of this three-syllable word and making it your own. It’s reinventing the word by reinventing yourself. And we all long to do so from time to time, don’t we? I know I do. I also know that I struggle periodically with that framework that I mentioned above. I find myself wondering when, how, why and why not. And undoubtedly wondering at times “am I crazy?” But I still keep circling back in my persistence to figure out how.

I love the impact of the word “reinvent,” the power that it bestows when we embrace it, and the possibilities that it creates when we maximize it. It’s rather like embracing ourselves – the core of who we are and who we can be – and knowing that by doing so and by extending ourselves beyond the framework, there’s an opportunity to remodel.

We can reinvent. We can be. We can change our course (maybe even when we don’t realize that we are doing so.) But then one-day things are different. You are different. The chapter that you thought you wanted to write. Well, that’s different too. Maybe by choice and maybe not. That’s the beauty in the definition to me: that sometimes the things we have no control over are the very things that lead us to the place that perhaps we were supposed to be all along.

And so here I am thinking about and expounding on reinvention. It’s not the first time I’ve been here, and it certainly won’t be the last time (at least I hope not anyway). It’s a path that I have been seeking for a while – unknowingly led there out of grief but aware that in that grief my potential was unlocked. I believe that my creativity laid dormant until the moment that I needed it the most. And then, boom. It emerged. I emerged. Slowly, carefully, and with some hesitation. And as I nurture it and feed it, it becomes more of me.

Then, I begin to see the framework as something more than just a structure in my mind. What was once a sketch, begins to take form. It becomes more than an idea, a longing, a desire. It becomes a reality. And ever so slowly, I understand the mechanics in the word “reinvent”; and how you can take one slice of your life and transform it into something else. It’s like modeling clay into a form or filling your palette with colors that breathe life into a blank canvas. It’s bringing a stage alive with the magical movement of a dance or the enchantment of a song. Or writing words that can transport someone to a different place in time.

We all have ways to reinvent ourselves. Sure, on the surface we can change our hair, our clothes, our war paint (yes, that’s what I call my makeup). But it goes beyond what we can see, don’t you think? The ability is within us when we choose to say “yes” to that voice that is either gracefully courting us or naggingly nudging us.

So I ask you, fellow readers, how will you reinvent yourself? Who is that you want to be? What is that you wish to do? What is your word and what does it mean to you? Inquiring minds want to know. Or at least mine does anyway.