When Living Your Best Life Looks Nothing Like You Thought it Would

A reminder to keep living and to keep dreaming.

I’m with Ken

My dad has taught me a lot of things.

He taught me to drive ( a stick, no less), and because of him, I can parallel park like a hot-greased ninja.
He insisted I learn to like blue cheese and sauerkraut - although I’m still not sure as to why.

He taught me the value of  "Working to Live vs. Living to Work" and the value of being outside long before REI insisted it was a good idea.

He taught me how to balance a checkbook, how to pack a suitcase with the skill of a Tetris master, and how to be so cheap that your end up fucking yourself over because the cheap option didn't work, so now you have to rebuy the thing. 

It's called Ken Myer-ing yourself. 

For instance, don't buy hiking boots on double clearance two weeks before an eight-day backcountry trek. You will (I did) buy new full-price boots two days before the trip because the clearance boots will give you blisters. 

Recently, my dad taught me another life lesson.

I have been running full tilt, throwing time, money, and energy behind being a working artist.
*News flash - it’s hard.
I’ve been engaging in this multi-year dead sprint as if my life depended on it out of fear -
Fear that I was too late, that I would miss the chance at a creative career, that it would pass me by, that I had already failed because it hadn’t happened yet. 

 Our society puts so much value on the vibrance of youth that sometimes it’s hard to remember and recognize the value that time brings. 

This is a real fucking bummer because it is the grit of living one’s life that is the secret sauce to making good art. 

Papa Myer went to Cancun, Mexico, with 4000 of his closest friends last month to attend four consecutive nights of concerts, parties, and all-around adult spring break.
When he arrived home eight days later, exhausted and wrung out, he was happier than a pig in a French clay mud bath being served unlimited grapes and cheese.

He told me that while he’s always had good friends, hobbies, and things that filled him up, these concerts and this community have ignited a new chapter of friendships, connections, and belonging. 

I never thought being 70 or 80 would be fabulous until I met some of the members of the For ArtSake Gallery in Newport.
These artists have rich, fulfilling, vibrant lives filled with creativity, community, and purpose. 

Papa Myer just celebrated a birthday. 

He is officially in his mid-seventies and experiencing some of life’s best things - can you say Lilac Suit?!

When a lilac suit is a NEED, not a want.

He has a varied friend group, where he belongs, and is welcomed with glee.
He has a CREW, a fan club, and a dedicated following. 
He has MERCH, for fuck sake!
At 70, he was a model for a famous street photographer in Iceland. 
The Instagram Reel is brilliant - watch it HERE

He!
Is!
L I V I N G!

Photo by Dino Serrao - Street Photographer

Is he also napping?
Yes, he is because in your 70s, you need a few naps and someone to update your phone for you, but otherwise, he has gone FULL rock star.

I can only hope to be as cool as he is when I am in my 70s. 

Watching him live has taught me that life does not end at 50 or 60.
Not if we don’t let it -it doesn’t end until we are in the ground or on the pyre.

No matter how violently youth is stuffed down our gullets, we don't have to believe or accept it as truth. 

We can keep loving life.
It does not lose its vibrancy or spark with age; a world of experiences is ours for the taking, regardless of when we find them.
And more importantly, I needed to be reminded that we don’t have to succeed or achieve a lifetime’s worth of goals before 50; we can go at our own pace and take our time.
Unless a bus is coming, then we should move a little faster, but only then. 

Are you rushing? If so, why? Can you slow down?