why? 7/11/25

Posted on by Septuagenarian in Life Lessons

A dear friend recently asked me “Why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep putting yourself through all this emotional turmoil? Another asked, why don’t you just get over it and move on?”

It gave me great pause. I have never even asked myself that question. So here is what I know so far.

For many years I have perceived what feels like a knee in my back pushing me forward. Forward toward understanding my repetitive patterns.

When I divorced at aged 50, I knew my path of learning in partnership had ended. It was time for me to go it alone. To learn who I am without the faux security of a husband. I didn’t realize that in doing so I would enter a wilderness unlike any I could imagine.

For the past 30 years that has been my territory. The wilderness journey is an arduous one. There are no road maps, and once entered, the only way through the unknown is to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. There are no quick fixes, only the imperative to keep navigating whatever terrain shows up.

The path is laden with stones over which to stumble. My rocks always come in the form of friends, coworkers, or clients. The more important they are to me, the bigger the stone. Always, they are people I love and want to keep in my life. That commitment compels me to take a deeper look and ask, what do I need to learn about myself from this relationship?

So why do I continue? I believe it is my curriculum for this life. To understand more deeply who I am and why I am here? What is my purpose? What else should I do if not to continue to learn?

And often, I just take a break and grab my camera.

Love, Elizabeth

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Published by Septuagenarian

12 thoughts on “why? 7/11/25”

  1. The photos that go with this story are so right on…you choose them well to accompany your words….

    I normally resist the question ‘why’, but you took it in and let it carry you even deeper. I like that. And I like how you let us/me travel alongside you as you look….. Beautiful. Lynda. ❣️

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  3. Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean— the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down— who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

    —Mary Oliver

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  4. dear Elizabeth, I so agree with you❤️. If we truly desire to travel the journey towards Wholeness, there is no other way but through the wilderness. Archetypes before us—Jesus going into the Wilderness for 40 days—the Children of Israel wandering in the desert before reaching the Promised Land. Thank heavens, we have things to help soothe our soul as we travel—nature, animals, music, art, and authentic conversations with friends among other things. Big hugs from your fellow traveler Judy b (and M)❤️❤️🙏🙏

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  7. The wilderness at Wadsworth and 90th, the northwest corner, beside Yak & Yeti! It’s a silo circa 1912 and preserved as a tribute to the early Colorado dairy farmers who farmed that land in the early 1900’s. The land of beautiful rolling hills can only be imagined now. My great-uncle was a dairy farmer, hence my soft spot for cows.

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