Claire Cook's Blog, page 2
February 26, 2022
10 Awesome Walking Benefits
It’s almost always walking weather here on St. Simons Island, but if you need a little nudge to get out there walking in your neck of the woods (even if that means walking in place in front of the TV or up and down some stairs until the weather is more walkable), here are some great reasons to give yourself the gift of a daily walk:
Walking boosts your creativity. If you’re stuck on a creative project, walk away and let that next step come to you. (I do this ALL the time!)Walking lifts your mood. Walking promotes the release of endorphins, opiate-like brain chemicals that stimulate relaxation, reduce stress and fight depression. The fact that walking is just plain fun helps lift your mood, too!
Walking ramps up your energy. Walking increases blood flow so that oxygen and nutrients can reach the large muscles in the legs as well as the brain, which makes you feel more energized.
Walking helps you sleep better. Walking in the morning means you’ll have a sounder sleep at night, in part because exposure to early daylight helps your body maintain its natural sleep patterns.
Walking strengthens your immune system. Walking 20 minutes per day 5 days a week can boost your immune system by increasing blood flow, reducing stress and inflammation, and increasing antibodies.
Walking helps your joints. Walking protects the joints, especially the knees and hips, which are the most susceptible to osteoarthritis, by lubricating them and strengthening the muscles that support them.
Walking helps you reach and maintain a healthy weight. Walking increases your heart rate so you expend more energy. It also helps you add muscle mass, which helps you burn more calories.
Walking helps ease your pain. Walking warms up your muscles, helping them move more easily. It can also increase production of the neurotransmitters that reduce pain.
Walking improves heart health. Your heart is a muscle and walking makes it stronger. Walking just over a mile a day at a moderate pace 5 days a week has been found to reduce your chance of a heart attack or other cardiovascular event by 31 percent.
Walking helps you live longer. Many studies have linked regular brisk walking to a longer life expectancy. So walk on to live long!
So I guess it’s basically move it or lose it! And now Katrina and the Waves are singing “Walking on Sunshine” in my head, and I’m ready to hit the beach again.
If you need some more walking inspiration—and some fun—reading or rereading the three books in my The Wildwater Walking Club series might be just the thing!
Talk to you soon!
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life. Get your free gift at ClaireCook.com.
February 15, 2022
5 Ways to Feel Better in 2022
Create a should-free zone. You should go out. You should stay in. You should have fun. You should have more energy. You shouldn’t be sad or mad or glad or bad. You should feel this. You should feel that. You shouldn’t be feeling this, that, or the other thing. Cut yourself some slack. It’s okay to feel our feelings instead of trying to talk ourselves out of them. Our feelings don’t have to be pretty, just real. And I think it’s a good idea to extend that same kindness to other people. Even if we really don’t agree with them.
Start or stop a habit. The way I like to think of it is that a practice is the repetition of an activity to improve a skill. A habit is simply an action done on a regular basis. I believe that every habit either adds to or subtracts from our lives. A morning walking habit, a voracious reading habit, a centering meditation habit, a healthy eating habit all add to our lives. Pandemic day drinking, maybe not so much. All by way of saying that the new year is a great time to take a good look at our lives and see what habits we’d like to add or subtract. One single change over the course of the next year could make a huge difference.
Start a daily creative practice. Find something you love to do, or want to learn to do, and commit to doing a little bit of it every day. Start a blog. Write a book. Learn to draw or play an instrument or start taking photos with your phone. The biggest thing a daily practice does is to take away the decision, as well as the stress associated with making that decision. You don’t try to do it. Or hope you’re going to do it. Or decide you’ll do it tomorrow instead. You just do it. A daily practice will enrich your life, help you find joy and purpose, and give you a soothing routine. And when we finally find our way to a new normal, whatever that might be, we’ll be able to look back and feel good about what we accomplished despite the challenges. (Make sure you read, or reread, Life Glows On for ideas and support for your daily practice.)
Think all you need is love. As I was typing this heading, I remembered another quote:
“The world is violent and mercurial—it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love—love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.”—Tennessee Williams
So that’s what I’m hanging on to: love. How can I show it in big and little ways? How can I add value? How can I touch hearts? How can I find a little bit of love in each and every day to help get me through it.
And now The Beatles are singing “All You Need is Love” in an endless loop in my head!
Talk to you soon!
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life.
December 23, 2021
5 Ways to Rise Above the Negativity in 2021
Hi Everybody,
I hope you’re staying safe and healthy and finding creative ways to enjoy your holidays. It’s been all Zoom for us this year, but our hearts are filled with gratitude and we’re enjoying plenty of laughs any way we can get them!
As I began writing this newsletter, I came across a quote that I love:
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”—Eleanor Roosevelt
For some of us, that thing we thought we couldn’t do might have been making it through 2020. But we’re almost there!
And in that spirit . . .
5 Ways to Rise Above the Negativity in 2021Whenever I share my favorite reinvention tips, one that I never leave out is to rise above the negativity. Because wherever we’re headed, there will always be people who tell us why we can’t or shouldn’t do whatever it is we want to do. We just have to decide to shrug them off and do it anyway.
But 2020 has taken negativity to a whole new level. Wave after wave of pain and suffering and divisiveness can start to make us feel like we’re drowning. Plus, we’re missing hugs and mask-free smiles. Even the dogs walking on the socially distanced beach are probably wondering why strangers don’t reach over to pet them anymore.
Two-legged or four-legged, we’ll get through this. And in the meantime, here are 5 ways to rise above the negativity in 2021:
1. Focus on what you can control. Turn off the news and start a creative project, a passion project, something that requires you to focus, brings you joy, helps your pandemic anxiety float away. Your project can be a stretch or something totally mindless. Don’t worry about whether or not it’s productive or if you’re talented enough. Set a schedule and let it become something you look forward to. For me, it’s writing my next book. For you, it might be a book, too. (If so, check out Never Too Late for some tips.) Or it could be creating a metal sculpture like Melanie in my novel Time Flies or making sea glass jewelry like Ginger in Life’s a Beach or going back to school like March in Multiple Choice or becoming a home stager like Sandra in Best Staged Plans or a makeup artist like Bella in Summer Blowout. Maybe it’s time to finally start that blog or photo journal or cookbook or podcast you keep meaning to get around to. Or maybe Shine On: How To Grow Awesome Instead of Old will give you some ideas for bringing some fun into your life.
(P.S. If you’ve already started or are about to start a new project, I’d love to hear about it! Just reply to this newsletter.)
2. Do one good thing every day. When there’s so much need swirling around us, it’s a fine line between empathy and overwhelm. So just pick one thing. Make a donation to a food bank. Check in with a neighbor who lives alone. Recently I bagged up all our old towels and blankets, along with a case of cat food and a fluffy cat bed, and dropped them off at an animal shelter that had just put out the word they needed blankets and beds to keep the animals warm during a cold snap. Then I let myself off the hook for the rest of the day. Tomorrow I might call an old friend. Today I’m sharing this list, in the hopes that it will be just the thing somebody reading it right now needs.
3. Develop your attitude of gratitude. Each morning write three things you’re grateful for in a gratitude journal. Or write each one on a separate brightly colored sticky note and watch them add up until you’ve covered an entire wall with them. Or maybe as you’re falling asleep at night, you count the things you’re grateful for instead of sheep. Whatever works for you. However we choose to do it, when we practice gratitude our brains release serotonin and dopamine, the neurotransmitters that make us feel better. And we could all use a little better right now.
4. Get moving. I don’t know about you, but I need all the endorphins, those opiate-like chemicals released by exercise, I can get these days. Beyond the massive physical and mental benefits of exercise, being out in nature just soothes my soul. I’m lucky enough to be able to take a physically distanced walk on the beach every day, often with my imaginary friends from The Wildwater Walking Club. I just got an email from a reader who’s been strapping on her Fitbit and circling around and around her yard every day, because that’s the best she can do right now. There’s always a way! If you need an accountability partner, you might even consider adopting a dog from a shelter to be your walking buddy. (See #1 above!) If you want to get your workout in without leaving your house, there are also some great free workout videos on YouTube. (My latest favorite is the Bollywood Dance Workout.)
5. Ditch your don’ts. You don’t do Zoom, or you don’t do ebooks. You don’t do online exercise or online dating or online classes or streaming. I get it. We’d rather talk to people in person. We love the heft of a paper book, the smell of new pages. But just because we prefer one way of doing things doesn’t mean we should close ourselves off to other opportunities. There are so many wonderful free and low-cost things we can do from the safety of our homes right now. A new year is the perfect time to shake off the insecurities that come with every learning curve, to allow ourselves to be embarrassingly bad at something because that’s the only way to get better, and try something new. So pick one of your don’ts, start Googling, and figure out how to turn it into a do.
Let me know how it goes!
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life
5 Simple Ways to Light Up the Season
One of my favorite Irish Proverbs goes: “A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.”
Still, the end of Daylight Savings Time is pretty jolting, and it always takes a while to adjust to turning our clocks back an hour. I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent the last week fighting the urge to crawl into bed even before I eat my early-bird dinner. And before we know it, we’ll be jingle bell rockin’ right into another holiday season. For some of us, it’s the best time of the year, filled with joy and cheer and family gatherings. For others, it’s loaded with uncertainty and anxiety and stress and sadness, and studies have found that more than half of us are affected by some level of holiday depression. Wherever you fall on the holiday continuum, it seems like a good time to share some of my favorite tips:
5 Simple Ways to Light Up the Season Get outside! Especially in the morning if you can. The sunshine that boosts your serotonin in the A.M. will be converted to melatonin in time to give you a cozy snooze that night.Open the curtains. Turn on the lights. Put up those Christmas decorations early. (Or not at all, if you don’t feel like it!) Look into getting a light box if you’re sunshine-deprived and think that might help. I just dug up some old soy candles and Himalayan salt candleholders and I’ve been lighting those while I write.Step it up! When I’m feeling seasonally sluggish, doing more exercise, not less, always snaps me out of it. Try walking twice a day and tell yourself you only have to walk for ten minutes each time. I know for me, once I lace up my sneakers and get out the door, I’ll want to keep walking.Start (or restart) a daily creative practice. I talk about this in detail in
L
ife Glows On
, and it is truly one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself. If you haven’t started reading the book yet, it might help brighten your season.Get on a regular sleep schedule. (If you have a hard time waking up in the morning, you could think about adopting a dog or a cat, truly the world’s most persistent alarm clocks.) You can always tell yourself you can take a nap later if you need it. Once you get going, you’ll be too busy lighting up your day to bother!Hope that helps!
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life.
October 13, 2021
Easy Breezy Creativity
Recently, I found myself going down a Pinterest rabbit hole looking for some creative Halloween decorating ideas. Painted pumpkins? Broomstick sculpture on the front door? Spiderweb wreath? Finally, I settled for dropping a single mini-pumpkin into the middle of a beachy arrangement I already had.
And you know what? It makes me happy every time I walk by it. As I say in Life Glows On, “Remember, it doesn’t have to be complicated to be creative. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”
I’m so glad I took my own advice.
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life.
Creative Walking
While I was out walking, I saw a beam of light land on this passion butterfly, aka gulf fritillary, as it fed on one of the final blooms of a firebush:
One of the things I love to do on my daily walk is find something beautiful or interesting and take a picture of it with my cellphone. It helps me shrug off all the sad/bad news in the world, to notice the little things. As those endorphins kick in, I appreciate the beauty all around me and take a moment to be grateful for it. Thanks to cell cameras, photography is such a fun and accessible way to be creative. As a bonus, I think taking photos on a regular basis has helped me understand composition in new ways.
If you’re looking for something uplifting and creative to do this fall, you might want to take your cellphone for a walk and start playing around!
Speaking of uplifting, The Wildwater Walking Club is the #1 Amazon bestseller in walking again, and The Wildwater Walking Club: Back on Track (Book 2) and The Wildwater Walking Club: Step by Step (Book 3) are right behind it!
For me, there’s nothing better than hearing that my books have made a difference to readers. I’m so grateful for these recent comments about The Wildwater Walking Club series:
“I loved these books. Discovered them right after my husband died and I had two back surgeries. I was just a lump. I got up and started moving, I’m getting there slow but sure. Thank you, Claire.”—Mary S.
“This is the very first book I read after years and years of not reading. Changed my life—I’ve been reading regularly ever since.”—Jill H.
“I loved all three books. They are so much fun and inspirational. I’m hoping you’re planning a new one. It might be time for the girls to go walking in the lavender fields again. Please!”—Marilyn O.
“Loved, loved, loved the series. I wish I could have these women to walk with….”—Lisa H. So if you need some inspiration to lace up your sneakers and get out there, make sure you read, or reread The Wildwater Walking Club series.
And yes, there will be more Wildwater books to come!
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life.
September 10, 2021
Life Glows On Conversation Starters
Thanks so much to the book clubs, women’s groups, creativity groups, health and wellness groups, nurses groups, educators, therapists who have requested a Life Glows On discussion guide. I always like to wait a bit to see what resonates for early readers, so another big thank you to all the awesome women who have reached out to share insightful comments and stories.
Feel free to use these Life Glows On conversation starters in any way that works for your group. Or share them with the friend you love to talk books with. Or scroll through them solo whenever you need a nudge to get back on track with your creativity.
If you’d like a PDF to print or forward, just send me an email at ClaireATClaireCook.com and I’d be delighted to send you one.
Life Glows On Conversation StartersClaire Cook wrote her first novel in her minivan when she was 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the adaptation of her novel Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack. She is now the New York Times bestselling author of 21 books that encourage other 40-to-forever women in their own lives. What would you like to do in your own life if, as Claire says, it’s never too late to shine on? What’s getting in your way?Claire says that her own COVID-19 story planted the seed for writing Life Glows On. How has your personal pandemic experience impacted your life? Your values? Your goals?A foundational belief of Life Glows On is that we’re all creative. Has reading the book changed your view of creativity? Do you feel inspired to reconnect with your own creativity? Is there a specific creative project you’re now ready to take on?What’s your earliest creative memory? Was it a positive or a negative experience? If you could reach back and give that younger self some advice and/or encouragement, what would you say to her?In Life Glows On, Claire says that “being creative helps us heal, see ourselves, find our voices again, reconnect with the parts of us we’ve lost, step into our truth.” Have you experienced that in your own life? Have you observed it in other people’s lives?“Creativity is the box of crayons we use to tell our story, and in telling our story we figure out who we are.” How has creativity helped you tell your own story? How has it helped you figure out who you are? Who you’re becoming?While researching the book, many people told Claire that even though they have more free time than they’ve ever had, they seem to be accomplishing a whole lot less these days. The thought of settling into a creative project when there’s so much need swirling around makes them feel guilty and self-absorbed. Is struggling with feeling overwhelmed by “the staggering stress of this time” something you’ve also experienced? Has it been a challenge to use your time productively?In the chapter “Leaving a Legacy,” Claire says, “Creativity makes our lives better. Our legacy can make other people’s lives better. A little bit of both makes everything better.” How do you look at the overlap between creativity and legacy? In general? Specifically in your own life?Did Life Glows On inspire you to keep a notebook? What kind of notebook did you choose? When and how often to you write in it? What kinds of things do you write? What would you suggest to someone who’s new to collecting ideas and inspiration in a notebook?“It doesn’t have to be complicated to be creative. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.” Do you struggle with perfectionism? How does it get in your way in terms of your creativity? In terms of the rest of your life?Do you thrive when you follow your creative impulses or do you have a tendency to end up surrounded by the chaos of half-finished projects?Do you agree that “fear is a fact of a well-lived life” and that fear of success and fear of failure “are pretty much flip sides of the same coin?” How has fear impacted your own life? Your creativity?“We can spend our life trying to get back at all the ugly, mean-spirited people who totally deserve it. Or we can be grateful that we’re not one of them, and spend our days being kind and sparkling with creativity.” What ugly, mean-spirited person are you NOT going to try to get back at? How will you rise above that particular negativity?Have you chosen your one creative thing? Will it involve a daily practice? What is your version of Claire’s two pages a day?What section of Life Glows On gave you the biggest jolt of recognition? What inspired you the most? What is your favorite quote from the book? Which of Claire Cook’s books do you think you’ll read next?BONUS ACTIVITY: Go to ClaireCook.com and get your FREE copy of 41 Essential Quotes to Get Your Glow On. Print them out, color the borders and/or collage them. Copy your favorite quotes into your notebook. Or just leave them on your phone to pull up whenever you need a boost.
If you haven’t read Life Glows On yet, you can buy your copy here: https://amzn.to/3A0vmN2
Talk to you soon!
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestseller of 21 fun and inspiring books.
August 15, 2021
41 Essential Quotes to Get Your Glow On
I know lots of us have been struggling and feeling overwhelmed. The virus. The weather. The relentless uncertainty.
I couldn’t be more grateful for my daily beach walks, and for the fact that Life Glows On has been resonating for so many of you. And for family and friends and cute cats. But still, I’ve been really wishing that I could come up with something that would give us all a little boost.
My first thought was a giveaway. But the trouble with giveaways is that everybody doesn’t win. And we could ALL use a good win right about now.
So I’ve been spending my time putting together a FREE and fabulous collection of quotes for you, 41 Essential Quotes to Get Your Glow On. Quotes about life, quotes about being happy, quotes about creativity, inspirational quotes to live by. I hope these quotes for 40-to-forever women will inspire you as much as they inspire me.
Each quote is on a separate page and surrounded by a cool border. They’re downloadable and printable. You can also just read them on your computer or phone, and/or copy them into your notebook by hand. You can color the quote borders, doodle around them, or cut them up and use them to make a collage.
And, of course, I’ve left you a bordered page to add your own favorite quote!
41 Essential Quotes to Get Your Glow On is totally free and created exclusively for my awesome newsletter subscribers. I hope it makes your day a little brighter.
To join my newsletter list yet and get your free gift, just go to https://ClaireCook.com/newsletter.
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life.
August 10, 2021
Looking for a good book to read?
Just in case you’re curled up at home and looking for something to read, here’s an excerpt of The Wildwater Walking Club for you.
Excerpted from The Wildwater Walking Club© Claire Cook. All rights reserved.
Day 1
132 steps
On the day I became redundant, I began to walk. Okay, not right away. First I lay in bed and savored the sound of the alarm not going off. I’d been hearing that stupid beep at the same ridiculous time pretty much every weekday morning for the entire eighteen years I’d worked at Balancing Act Shoes.
I stretched decadently and let out a loud, self-indulgent sigh. I pictured the zillion-count Egyptian cotton sheets I’d finally get around to buying. I’d pull them up to my chin to create a cozy cocoon, then wiggle down into the feather bed I’d buy, too, a big, fluffy one made with feathers from wildly exotic free-range birds.
I’d once had a pair of peacock earrings that came with a note saying, “Since peacocks lose their feathers naturally, no peacocks were harmed in the making of these earrings.” I’d always meant to look that up to see if it was a marketing ploy or if it was actually true. If so, then maybe I could find a peacock feather comforter. Though I suppose what would be the point of using peacock feathers in a comforter if you couldn’t see them? Perhaps I could invent a see-through comforter that let the iridescent blues and greens shimmer through. Though I guess first I’d need to come up with a zillion-count see-through Egyptian cotton.
I closed my eyes. I flipped over onto my back and opened them again. I stared up at a serious crack, which I liked to think of as the Mason-Dixon Line of my ceiling. My seventh-grade history teacher would be proud she’d made that one stick.
I rolled over, then back again. I kicked off my ordinary covers. On the first morning I could finally sleep in, I seemed to be more awake than I’d been at this hour in decades. Go figure.
After a long, leisurely shower, a bowl of cereal, and an online check of the news and weather, I called Michael on his cell at 8:45 A.M. It rang twice, then cut off abruptly without going to voice mail.
So I sent him an e-mail. “Call me when you can,” it said.
A nanosecond later my e-mail bounced back. “Returned Mail: Permanent Fatal Errors,” it said.
I dialed his office number. At least that voice mail picked up. “Hi, it’s me,” I said. “I seem to be having technical difficulties reaching you. But the good news is I have all the time in the world now. Anyway, call me when you get this.” I laughed what I hoped was the perfect laugh, light and sexy. “Unless, of course, you’re trying to get rid of me.”
By 11 A.M., I’d watched enough morning TV to last me a lifetime, and I still hadn’t heard back from him. I tried to remember if we had specific plans for that night. Michael worked for the buyout company, Olympus, so we’d had to keep things on the down low. I mean, it wasn’t that big a deal. I was leaving anyway, and he’d be right behind me, so it was just a matter of time.
After the initial army of auditors had stopped acting like nothing was going on, when everybody with half a brain knew something was obviously up at Balancing Act, Michael had been one of the first Olympus managers to come aboard. He was handsome, but not too, and exactly my age, which gave us an immediate bond in an industry that more and more was comprised of iPod-wearing recent college grads. Some of them had become friends, at least work friends, but they were still essentially children.
Michael and I had commonality, both current and past. I was a Senior Manager of Brand Identity for Balancing Act. He was a Senior Brand Communications Manager for Olympus. Potato, potahto. The athletic shoe industry is market-driven rather than product-driven, which means, basically, that even though we don’t actually need a two-hundred-dollar pair of sneakers, we can be convinced that we do. Fads can be created, predicted, or at least quickly reacted to, and in a nutshell, that’s how Michael and I both spent our days.
But even more important, we’d both danced to Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” gotten high to the Eagles’ “Witchy Woman,” made love to “Sweet Baby James” back when James Taylor had hair. Maybe not with each other, but still, we had the generational connection of parallel experiences, coupled with your basic boomer’s urge to do something new, fast, while there was still time.
One of the first things he said to me was, “It’s business, baby.”
We were sitting in the employee cafeteria, and I felt a little jolt when he called me baby. He had rich chocolate eyes and a full head of shiny brown hair without a strand of gray, which meant he probably dyed it, but who was I to talk.
“Of course, it’s business,” I said. I gave my own recently camouflaged hair a little flip and added, “Baby.”
He laughed. He had gorgeous white teeth, probably veneers, but so what.
“What’s your off-the-record recommendation?” I asked.
He leaned forward over the button-shaped table that separated us, and the arms of his suit jacket gripped his biceps. I caught the sharp, spicy smell of his cologne. Some kind of citrus and maybe a hint of sandalwood, but also something retro. Patchouli?
“The first deal,” he said, “is always the best.”
“So grab the VRIF and run?” I asked, partly to show off my new vocabulary. Balancing Act employees, even senior managers like me, didn’t find out we’d become the latest Olympus acquisition until the day it went public. Since then, the buzz had been that the way to go was to take your package during the VRIF or Voluntary Reductions in Force phase. Olympus was all about looking for redundancies and establishing synergies, code for getting rid of the departments that overlapped.
Right now, the packages were pretty generous. I could coast along for eighteen months at full base salary, plus medical and dental. They were even throwing in outplacement services to help me figure out what to do with the rest of my life. The only thing missing was a grief counselor. And maybe a good masseuse. By the time we got to the Involuntary Reductions in Force phase, aka the IRIF, who knew what I’d be looking at.
Michael glanced over his shoulder, then back into my eyes. “Here’s the thing, Noreen. Or do you prefer Nora?”
“Nora,” I said, even though no one had ever called me that until this very moment. I’d been called Nor, Norry, Reeny, Beany, NoreanyBeany, even StringBeany, though I had to admit that one was a few years and pounds ago. Mostly it was just plain Noreen. Michael’s baby reeled me in, but I swallowed his Nora hook, line, and sinker.
I forced myself to focus. “Wall Street,” he was saying, “will expect some performance from the synergy created by combining companies. The way to get performance is to streamline numbers, to create efficiencies. Human resources, finance, operations, marketing—lots of overlap. Ergo…”
I raised an eyebrow. “Ergo?” I teased.
He raised his eyebrow to match mine, and even though it would be another two weeks before we ended up in bed together, I think we both knew right then it was only a matter of time.
I leaned my elbows on the table. “So, what?” I said. “I leave so you can have my job?”
“Off the record,” he said, “I’ll probably be right behind you. I mean, take my job, please. You’d be doing me a favor. I’m just waiting till they offer the VRIF package to the Olympus employees they’ve brought in.”
“Seriously?” I said. “You really think you’ll take it? And do what?”
He laced his fingers together behind his head and arched back in his chair. “Let’s see. First off, I think I’d light a bonfire and burn up all my suits and ties. Then I’d chill for a while. Maybe buy a van, find me a good woman, drive cross-country.” He smiled. “Then look around for a partner, someone to start a small business with.”
At eleven-thirty, I called Michael’s cell again. The second ring cut off midway, once more without going to voice mail. I waited, then pushed Redial. This time it cut off almost as soon as it started ringing. I sent another e-mail. It bounced back with the same fatal message. I called his office number, but when that voice mail picked up, I just hung up.
I was seriously creeped out by now. I thought about calling someone else at work to see if maybe there was a logical explanation, like everybody in the whole building was having both cell service and mail server problems, but I couldn’t seem to make myself do it.
I thought some more, then threw on a pair of slimming black pants and a coral V-neck top over a lightly padded, modified push-up bra pitched as a cutting-edge scientific undergarment breakthrough in subtle enhancement. A little figure-flattering never hurt, even if it was hyperbole, and if nothing else, the coral worked well with my pale skin and dark hair. The last time I’d worn it, Michael had said I looked hot. Smoking hot, come to think of it, though that was probably an overstatement, too.
The midday drive into Boston was a lot shorter without the commuter congestion. Who knew that unemployment would be the best way to beat the traffic? Still, I had plenty of time to get a plan. I’d simply pretend I’d left one of my favorite sweaters behind and wanted to grab it before someone ran off with it. And I was in the neighborhood anyway because I was meeting a friend for lunch. And I just thought I’d poke my head in and say Hi, Michael. And he’d say he was just thinking about me, trying to remember if we had plans for dinner. I’d tilt my head and tell him if he was lucky, maybe I’d even consider cooking for him. And he’d smile and make a crack about maybe it would be safer to get takeout.
The main lot was packed, but eventually I found a parking spot. I reached into my glove compartment for the lanyard that held my employee badge, slipped it over my head, and made for the front entrance.
When the revolving door spilled me out into the lobby, I held up my badge for the uniformed guard.
He waved his handheld scanner over the laminated bar code like a wand.
I headed for the elevators, the way I had a million times before.
“Ma’am?” he said.
I turned. He held up his scanner. I held out my badge again.
This time I watched. When the laser light hit the bar code, it flashed red instead of the customary green.
We looked at each other. This was the grouchy guard, the one who never said a word and always looked like he wished he were anywhere but here. I found myself wishing I’d tried a little harder to befriend him.
I laughed. “Well, I guess it didn’t take them long to get over me.” I gave my hair a toss. “Lucky me, I took a buyout. I just need a minute to run up and grab something I forgot.” He didn’t say anything, so I added, “A sweater. A cardigan. Black, with some nice seaming around the buttons. I’ll be back before you even start to miss me.”
“Sorry, ma’am, I can’t let you do that. Orders.”
I blew out a gust of air. “Just call up,” I said. “Sixth floor.” I held out my card again so he could read my name.
He ran his finger down a list on a clipboard. “Sorry, ma’am. You’re on the No Admittance List.”
“You’re not serious,” I said, though it was pretty obvious that he was.
I waited. He looked up again. I met his eyes and couldn’t find even a trace of sympathy in them, so I tried to look extra pathetic, which by that point I didn’t really even have to fake.
“Maybe you can call somebody and ask them to bring it down,” he said finally. “On your cell phone,” he added.
“Unbelievable,” I said. I stomped across the lobby so I could have some privacy. Since I hadn’t really left a sweater behind, I decided to just cut to the chase and call Michael’s cell. Half a ring and it went dead.
There is always that exact moment when the last shreds of denial slip away and your reality check bounces. I closed my eyes. Eventually, I opened them again. I called his office number. “You piece of shit,” I whispered to his voice mail.
I stood there for a minute, scratching my scalp with both hands. Hard, as if I might somehow dig my way to a good idea. When that didn’t happen, I walked out, without even a glance at the guard. I kept my head up high as I walked across the parking lot, in case someone was watching from one of the windows. I found my car and climbed back into it.
Just as I was getting ready to pull out onto the access road, I caught the purple-and-white-striped Balancing Act Employee Store awning out of the corner of my eye. I banged a right and pulled into a parking space right in front of it.
I stopped at the first circular display I came to and grabbed a pair of our, I mean their, newest shoe, the Walk On By, in a size 8 1/2. It was strictly a women’s model, positioned as the shoe every woman needed to walk herself away from the things that were holding her back and toward the next exciting phase of her life. Shed the Outgrown. Embrace Your Next Horizon. Walk On By.
Even though I’d been part of the team to fabricate this hook out of thin air, I still wanted to believe in the possibility. I handed the box to the woman at the register. I held up my badge. I held my breath.
Her scanner flashed green, and she rattled off a price that was a full 50 percent off retail.
“Wait,” I said. I ran back to the display, grabbing all the Walk On Bys in my size. Then I sprinted around the room, scooping up whatever I could find in an 81/2. Dream Walker. (You’ll Swear You’re Walking on Clouds.) Step Litely. (Do These Sneakers Make Me Look Thin?) Feng Shuoe. (New Sneakers for a New Age.) I didn’t stop until I’d built a tower of shoe boxes on the counter.
“Take a buyout?” the woman asked as she rang me up.
I nodded.
I gave her my credit card, and she handed me a bright purple pedometer. “On the house,” she said. “It’s the least Balancing Act can do for you.”
“Thanks,” I said. I hooked it onto my waistband, and that’s when I started to walk.
Day 2
54 steps
UGH.
Day 3
28 steps
So this is rock bottom.
Day 4
17 steps
No, this is.
. . . . .
If you’d like to keep reading, you can buy The Wildwater Walking Club at these links:
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Happy reading! Talk to you soon!
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 21 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life.
August 8, 2021
My 5 Favorite Reinvention Tips
Reinvention is the overarching theme of my books as well as my life. The main characters in all of my novels are all stuck, each in her own way, and trying to find their next chapters. I was stuck for decades until I finally found the courage to write my first book. My nonfiction books also share what I’ve learned on my own journey, that it’s never too late to shine on.
Reinvention doesn’t have to be a massive, earth-shattering change, although it certainly can be. Making the perfect little tweak to your existing life is reinvention, too, and sometimes that’s all you need. It’s your life and you can reinvent it any way you want to.
Here are my 5 favorite reinvention tips:
Rise above the negativity. Whatever the motive, lots of people will tell you why you can’t or shouldn’t do whatever it is you want to do. You just have to decide to do it anyway. You might want to protect yourself a bit in the beginning, too. I didn’t tell anyone about my first novel until it was finished. You don’t need anyone’s permission—just do it!Be who you really are. The big buzz word these days is branding, but I think of it as authenticity. This is the first job I’ve ever had where I wasn’t pretending, or at least trying to pretend, to be a slightly different person. Who I am and what I write are totally in sync. There’s tremendous power in that.
Confound expectations. If everybody’s doing it, it’s already been done. Put a little surprise in everything you do. Originality counts.
Do something nice for someone. It’s easy to get needy when you’re struggling to figure out what’s next, but many of the great things that have happened to me were triggered by something nice I did for someone else. People talk—your actions determine what they say. As one of my characters once said, karma is a boomerang!
Get your tech together. Everything you need to know about the world you want to conquer can be found online. Get your computer skills up to speed—fast! Take a class or find a computer mentor. Research. Network. Create an online presence and start connecting on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. The Internet is a great equalizer—and there are so many opportunities out there just waiting for you to take advantage of them!
Talk to you soon!
xxxxxClaire
CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestseller of 21 books, including her latest, LIFE GLOWS ON: Reconnecting With Your Creativity to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life.
