Reinvention

I’ve been thinking about a lot of “re” words. In particular - reinvention, reimagine, renovation. I have good reasons. First of all I have been watching The Bear. The Bear is a show on Disney Channel that despite the name is all about restaurants and chefs, teamwork, and family connections and commitments for better or worse. Sometimes it’s funny but it is really a workplace/family drama and often an intense and gruelling one. The images of inner-city Chicago and the wide variety of dishes that are prepared are drool inducing. The script is good and the acting is universally excellent led by the sensational Ayo Edibiri as the Sous chef Sydney. There are some fantastic guest cameos through the two series to date including for Community fans out there, Jock Mc Hale and Gillian Jacobs, also Molly Ringwald and the hotter than hot right now Jamie Lee Curtis. I can’t think of another show where simultaneously you wish you were and you are so glad you are not, working in the profession shown in the show.

But The Bear is also about reinvention and a reimagining. Troubled chef Carmy wants to transform the family café to a starred restaurant. He has the skills and the experience but will the current café staff, his family, money problems and a dozen of other things including his own personal issues stop the reinvention. Watch it and find out over the two series. If you are needing something to watch now that Succession is done and dusted look no further The Bear is the best show on TV now.

The Artist and I moving to Graffiti City was a reimagine and refocus on what we wanted the next stage of our lives to be. What we were going to focus on, what was important to us and what could we do with our circumstances. It has been a great success and it was no doubt the right thing to do at the time but there have of course been times when it has been scary.

A lot of people seem to stop doing this when they get older. They put down deep roots and seem determined to stay in a place no matter what. I guess they follow the rule of ‘If it is not broke don’t fix it.” But why does something have to break before you can reinvent or renovate?

We wanted a certain energy or at least more of it closer to home and so we now live inner city. And of course the city is now on our doorstop. Now and again that can be a little much. We lived in the same suburb in the mid 90s and people were then saying quite correctly, “Well its not as edgy and dodgy as it was in the 60s or the 70s.”  Now the gentrification is arguably almost complete you do see and hear stuff that does not happen in every suburb around Australia. Or at least not so often. Stuff that is mildly criminal, upsetting, and challenging. That’s what makes it exciting and yes, sometimes uncomfortable.

But reinvention and change is supposed to make you uncomfortable otherwise what would be the point? it is a shame how we tend to lose the desire for that feeling as we get older. This is the issue that I have about my home state Queensland. Everything comes back to how good the weather is.  I get that if you are, for example, in some sort of pain, if you’re feeling broken or even just a little knocked about the idea of healing in the warm sun without having to think about how to be comfortable is appealing. But that slow recline into the soporific sunny warmth can be a trap. There is no discomfort you see and I think we humans are better for a little discomfort. It is good creatively, spiritually, physically in life to not be too comfortable for long periods, to have to keep thinking planning and striving. You might not agree but I like a place where there is always something going on outside your door, where you have four seasons in a year and yes sometimes in a day. It keeps me on my toes.

And finally we just renovated our one bathroom. It was tired and dark; the space was not being utilised properly e.g. when opened the bathroom door would hit your butt if you were at the vanity basin. So the Artist planned it out and now we have a much better room. The thing with renovations is that they seem such a great idea in the beginning. An exciting reimagining when you are planning them but of course going through the process is tedious and disruptive [luckily we had another toilet because the room was out of action for two weeks]. Of course one day you come out the other side and you have your first shower or whatever in the new facilities and you declare to yourself, “You know what? This was worth the only bathing every second day and driving to friend’s house for a shower because it’s now all fresh and new and the mirror gleams and the tiles are shiny, the taps are just right and the porcelain oh my god the new porcelain.”

 And that is the power of reinvention.

Haven’t done this for a while. Seven great songs about reinvention and change.

Changes – David Bowie

A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

All Things Must Pass – George Harrison

Walk on The Wild Side – Lou Reed

The Times They Are Changin – Bob Dylan

Cool Change – Little River Band

Dreamworld – Midnight Oil

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash