Upside, Down, and Backward By Maureen Russakoff

Upside, down, and backward could be the best way to take your big leap. Our regular readers know that my husband and I have leaped off a new cliff together. In?Rich's words,?"We are resourceful people."

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We said goodbye to the world we co-created in a beautiful luxury-build property in a gated community on a golf course for the rough and tumble world of Baja Sur Mexico.

Post-pandemic, Cabo San Lucas became the number-one tourist destination in the world.?The drive from the airport sports magnificent views reminiscent of trips through Big Sur, California, in the States. The roads bend and curve up and down the mountainsides like a roller coaster, and there are several spots where vast ocean views on your left as you travel north are contrasted on your right by the mountains.

Once you leave the familiar look and feel of paved roads, you are plunged directly into "good enough" dirt roads - frequently very wide to accommodate the fact that people arrive in the area driving RVs.?Alternatively, you find yourself on a single-lane road where the right of way is decided ad hoc.?

Next Sunday, I will start taking steps to renew my understanding of myself and my goals by taking a week-long workshop at the?Modern Elder Academy.?The workshop title?is "Radical Transitions: The Courage to Reinvent Yourself."?The literature about the workshop encourages participants to become comfortable with uncertainty.?Done deal!?

My life has followed a pattern of significant changes series of changes in five- to seven-year increments.

The first decade of my life was prosaic, if not idyllic, in the mold of Rockwell, growing up on a family farm of 100 acres with seven siblings and a watering hole for swimming in the summer.?My father had the good sense to plant popping corn, providing giant bowls of pass-around popcorn to accompany the TV shows we regularly watched.?

The next distinct phase of my life hurled me into an urban environment. I remember protesting to my Mother and Father - as only a thirteen-year-old girl can -?that the move to the big city?would guarantee I would become a juvenile delinquent. I loathed the concept of leaving the farm. The small city we relocated to provided an opportunity for an excellent education in a good Catholic high school.?

The following decades were full of more changes and challenges. The early marriage ended in early divorce and more turmoil. I developed a hearty case of Alcoholism during my Diva Days and concluded in my third decade that recovery was my best option moving forward.?Commitment to a 12-step program was and is still a core aspect of my being.?

After several years of living and loving life in Chicago (where I completed my study at Second City Training Center while working as the Diva Du Jour in the nightclub scene), I decided to move on to Boulder, Colorado. My cozy, creative, meditative life in Boulder lasted six years.?

My next iteration took me "home" to the small town of my childhood, where I had the honor and privilege of caretaking for my Mother to ensure she had death with dignity.?Who knew the next phase of my life would be joining?Rich?as we travel the world together???

My week at Modern Elder Academy will be an exciting attempt to synthesize adventures and identify themes to set the direction for the next decade, which promises to be the best decade of my life.?How are YOU choosing to renew, recapture and?Rekindle?the life you want to experience??

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