Are you who you are? -– Rock The Wrinkle

At this point in our boomer and beyond lives, it’s safe to say our personalities are pretty set. Whether we realize it or not, we project how happy we are, how generous or selfish we are, and how positive or negative we are. Granted, we might have an occasional epiphany or revelation that stops us in our tracks, but for the most part, we are a specific person—and others know us by this.

Then again, is this who are we really? Is this who we really were meant to be?

Without getting too crazy, think about it this way: are you the man or woman that society, your parents, your spouse and your boss expects you to be? When deep down, there’s a rebel dying to get out….

An artist straining to break free and do something unique….

An adventurer who wants to throw caution to the wind and roam the world….

A peaceful counselor who’d rather negotiate that join in the regular family fight….

A contemplative who much prefers solitude and a pen and paper to raucous family get-togethers….

And if you’re not letting that inner person shine through now, when will you?

Professor, writer, and mythologist Joseph Campbell says “the heroic life is living the individual adventure.” Here are some of his thoughts:

“If what you are following is your own true adventure, if it is something appropriate to your deep spiritual need or readiness, then magical guides will appear to help you. If you say, ‘Everyone’s going on this trip this year, and I’m going too,’ then no guides will appear. Your adventure has to be coming right out of your own interior. If you are ready for it, then doors will open where there were no doors before, and where there would not be doors for anyone else. And you must have courage. It’s the call to adventure, which means there is no security, no rules.”

Picture a 70+ year-old man who decides he wants to hike the Appalachian Trail, and his children think he’s crazy.

Or a 65-year-old woman who sells her possessions and joins the Peace Corps because she’s always wanted to teach children how to sew.

Or something as simple as deciding you don’t like playing bridge every Thursday. Or wearing your hair the same old way (maybe a purple stripe?) Or being expected to watch the grandkids on the beach when in fact, you’d like to try surfing.

Why not?

It takes courage.

More from Joseph Campbell:

“What this represents psychologically is the trip from the realm of the conscious, rational intentions into the zone of those energies of the body that are moving from another center: the center with which you are trying to get in touch….there will come more aids, as well as increasingly difficult trials. You have to give up more and more of what you’re hanging on to. The final thing is a total giving up, a yielding all the way. This is a place directly opposite to your life experiences and all that you’ve been taught in school….

“You enter the forest

at the darkest point,

where there is no path.

“Where there is a way or path,

It is someone else’s path.

“You are not on your own path.

“If you follow someone else’s way,

you are not going to realize your potential.”

Uh oh. You mean all this time, I’ve been playing a role, fitting in, squashing what really matters and not really living life as who I was meant to be?

Pretty scary stuff. Of course, for some, the risk is too great. Rather than risk public scorn or awkward silences with friends and relatives, they just continue on, leading lives of quite desperation a la Thoreau.

After all, why stick your neck out….what upset the cart….aren’t we too old to change?

No. Not if we truly want to.

And for sure, not if there’s something inside of us that yearns to come out.

That’s always been the premise behind Rock The Wrinkle. To celebrate who we are, and have the courage to break free from stereotypes and expectations and live every moment to the fullest. Take a chance. Risk failure, or maybe just look foolish. But be true to our ourselves.

We’ve waited a lifetime for this freedom.

So if you can, find some quiet and really listen to what’s going on inside. Because that voice is your voice…and this is your time.