I attended a women’s networking group and our guest speaker was Julie Cobb. She’s the daughter of actor Lee J. Cobb and actress Helen Beverly. Julie is an actress herself with extensive credits. She played the part of Yeoman Leslie Thompson in the original Star Trek series. If you’re a Trekkie, you will remember she wore a red dress and transformed to a geometric Styrofoam cube.
Throughout the years, she’s held various jobs and mentioned she’s had a midlife “careen” rather than a career.
The definition of the word “careen” is “to sway from side to side. Rush, hurtle, zoom, and charge,”
She’d achieve a degree of success and then suddenly decide to move in a different direction. A few years ago, she directed a short film starring one of her ex-husbands, James Cromwell, who is an Academy Award-nominated actor. The experience was successful but she hasn’t directed another film ever since.
Julie would get distracted by either a relationship (she’s been married 4 times) or other life occurrences that took her off track. She didn’t have the “killer instinct” she needed to pursue her acting career full force. I can relate to that. I’ve worked for 40 plus years as a voice over actor but never enjoyed promoting myself. I was lucky to have a supportive group of other actors and directors who kept me busy.
I’ve re-invented myself several times either out of necessity or because I became interested in I wanted to do like blogging.
It’s not uncommon for us to have several careens or midlife reinventions during our lifetimes. A relationship, children, taking care of parents, divorce, widowhood, or something else causes us to divert and change our lives. Or we flit to the next shiny object.
No matter what our age, we still wonder what we’re going to be when we grow up
If you find yourself careening in midlife don’t be ashamed. We make our choices for a multitude of reasons. Our journey helps us learn and grow to be ourselves.
We may become excited about something only to find we aren’t as passionate about it as we thought. Instead, think of it as a learning experience that will lead you to a better reality. Life is a wonderful and mysterious adventure. If you free yourself to pursue your dream, you have a better chance of becoming happy and fulfilled.
It would be wonderful to know our true calling sooner than later, but then we’d miss out on all the fun along the way.
As we venture into midlife and beyond, we may continue to careen like Julie Cobb and never reach our intended destination. That’s okay. It’s what makes life interesting.
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Have you had a steady career for years and years or have you been careening all your life? Please leave a comment and tell us all about it.
If you discount the brief period when I felt called to be a nun (6-12 yo) I’ve never felt a calling. I’ve done tons of things, and liked them all (if you discount the 3 months I worked for a lunatic, and the one day I put pickles on buyers at BK.)
Wow Adela. I love it! I think we’ve all worked for a lunatic during some part of our life. Luckily, for me as well, not very long. A nun? I wanted to be a Playboy bunny but didn’t have all the equipment at the time.
Pickles on buyers? If I put pickles on buyers I would be the lunatic and would surely be gone within a day. Make that, pickles on burgers.
So glad you clarified that Adela! LOL