tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2786257536896730427.post8114283770701881829..comments2017-01-09T03:48:01.616-08:00Comments on Awesomely, Nerdy Me: The Dingo May Be DeadElizabethAnnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17088678734124521730noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2786257536896730427.post-89300595101686939092014-05-23T21:49:02.285-07:002014-05-23T21:49:02.285-07:00As successful, unwed teachers, you and I have had ...As successful, unwed teachers, you and I have had a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate to all our students that success and contentment in life is not dependent on a changed Facebook status. We are complete human beings just as we are. It's especially sad and frustrating seeing the double standard for men and women at work. There isn't a real male equivalent of "spinster;" that insult is targeted at a specifically female audience.<br /><br />As a young, independent, professional, and successful woman, you especially demonstrate that women are not defined by their relationship to a man, nor by how many children they can have. Worth runs deeper than that. I think that is one of the best models the girls at HCCA can have!<br /><br />I have long agreed with Rainer Maria Rilke, who wrote one of my favorite books, "Letters to a Young Poet," that love is what happens between two people in their own solitudes. No matter how people try, there are parts of ourselves we can never explain to someone else, and we should embrace our solitudes. At our deepest, words cannot express what it feels like to be who we are. It's a beautiful and ennobling truth, but it means that no matter how hard we try, there is a part of us that no relationship or parter can fully understand. Anyone who requires another human being to complete them is doomed to dissatisfaction. Total reliance on imperfect human beings for meaning is not healthy ground for anything, and proof lies in the fact that the couples who thrive are the ones who maintain their individuality throughout their lives.<br /><br />Life is bigger than coupling up, and relationship is a small part of a much larger world. It's a shame kids and a lot of adults forget to live their own lives, because so many people miss out on the chance to enrich their lives--ironically, filling a life with joy and adventure that for many people is one of the big attractions in finding a life partner.<br /><br />Don't let anyone feed you, whether it be blatant or in more subtle ways, the old lie that your time and energy should be spent looking for "the one." Among the +7 billion people on earth, there is a long list for you personally of great potential companions on the road of life, but travel buddies aren't a prerequisite for having a great journey! <br /><br />You don't need me to say it to you, but keep on rockin' life the way you already are, Liz! :DF.G.Y.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05629279625131227075noreply@blogger.com