Age Appropriate Activities: Late Bloomers?

With the advent of the movie Julie and Julia, the discussion of quality of life and creativity and 'late bloomers' has escalated, especially among artists.

Erik Erikson, a well known psychiatrist, described the eight stages of aging ending with the 50 to death stage. This final stage he described as a time of integrity or despair.

Certainly not despair for Julia Childs who sold her first cookbook at the age of 50 and didn't become a popular television personality until the 'end stage' of her life.

The link between creativity and generative or positive attitude has been measured and the results are in. The creation of art, the process of creating, will keep you young, vibrant, and boost your positive attitude. But then, we already knew that! Artists tend to forget age and what is appropriate for that age and just dive in, focused on the project or the process or the imagination and forget about success or failure. Actually success or failure, if there is such a thing in art, is based upon the perceived or imagined project -- what we see in our heads as the thing we are attempting to create. So the world can not set the standards for us. We set our own.

When I started out decorating cakes, a wise teacher told me in the first class. "Don't worry if your cake doesn't look exactly like the one in the picture. No one will know except you -- if you don't show them the picture!" Of course later on as I took off the training wheels, there were no pictures, just images in my mind.

I don't think creativity enhances only the end stage of life, but any stage. Also in the movie is Julie who faces the milestone of turning 30. She becomes absorbed (obsessed) in her task of making all 500 plus recipes in Julia Child's cookbook which drew her out of her 'powerless' job. This movie based on two true stories, written by Nora Ephron, strikes a chord at several ages. Just watching the trailer I feel strengthened and encouraged.

In Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot's latest book "The Third Chapter" she interviews forty people age 50 and older and concluded that people fall into two categories by that age. One group is stagnant, retired, waiting to die. The other is generative and finding new lives and living with enthusiasm and vitality. They are curious, outspoken, secure. Most of the people she interviewed were upper income, but a few were not.

One man, a factory worker, had resorted to selling his belongings at a flea market in order to get money to pay his bills. He noticed some metal sculptures at one artist's booth and thought he could do that. He had been a welder most of his life, he was good with metal. So he returned home, used the found objects around his house and drew on his love of all things dinosaur, creating his own dinosaur sculptures. When he displayed them at the flea market they were a hit. He not only found a new income, he also found the joy of creating and he elevated his entire lifestyle simply by changing his attitude about 'perceived abundance.' He wasn't poor any more although his art didn't boost him into a higher income.

Peter Drucker wrote in The Harvard Review back in 1999 urging employees to "manage oneself."

"It means we have to learn to develop ourselves. We have to place ourselves where we can make the greatest contribution to our organizations and communities. And we have to stay mentally alert and engaged during a 50-year working life, which means knowing how and when to change the work we do. It may seem obvious that people achieve results by doing what they are good at and by working in ways that fit their abilities."

Considering fabric art and quilting as a form of work -- well, that's difficult for me to think of it as anything but fun because I'm engaged, enthused and doing what I enjoy doing. At any age, I think this is the secret to a happy and successful life: doing what you most want to do. Just looking through the various guest blogs that have appeared here at Subversive Stitchers you see a whole host of examples of people happily succeeding at something they love. I hope we can all have that in every stage of our lives.

How to achieve it? The American Creativity Association have great information on this subject. Maybe not quit your day job, but definitely devote your energies to your first loves. Make time for your art and experiment. I'm heavily into experimentation these days. It is not just for the teenager or college student.

There's no failure in experimentation, simply results. Those endeavors that don't please you are examples of what not to do -- but they are learning experiences, not failures. And who knows those 'ugly fabrics' may be exactly what you need when making your next masterpiece. No learning experience is ever wasted.

So what is age appropriate? Who decides when life is over? The answers lie within YOU! Within me! And there are so many techniques and fabrics and ideas and and and so little time! There's an urgency at my age. It isn't about death. But it is about seeing myself closer to the end and needing to stuff as much as I possibly can into the remainder of my years.

I can't wait to see your experiments, personal successes and creative endeavors! We're subversive stitchers -- we do not stagnate, we do NOT retire. We NEVER say die. And if that doesn't get you off your duff, I have two words: Grandma Moses, one of her creations is pictured above.

Bon Appetite!