Reinvent Your Life – a Charles Bukowski poem on inventing and reinventing yourself, and a reminder that you don’t have to stay on a path that no longer fits.
The poem is “No Leaders, Please” by Charles Bukowski, collected in The Pleasures of the Damned (Ecco, 2007). Wording differs between editions.
“Invent yourself and then reinvent yourself,
don’t swim in the same slough.
invent yourself and then reinvent yourself and
stay out of the clutches of mediocrity.
invent yourself and then reinvent yourself,
change your tone and shape so often that they
can never categorize you.
reinvigorate yourself and
accept what is
but only on the terms that you have invented
and reinvented.
be self-taught.
and reinvent your life because you must;
it is your life and
its history
and the present
belong only to
you.”
Reinvent Your Life
In the results-oriented, type A-dominated world that the vast majority of us inhabit, it’s easy to feel that we’re under a considerable amount of pressure to “stay on track.” People all around you are successful. They knew what they wanted to do, they went to school, and they finished a series of degrees. Afterward, they got a job and quickly rose in the ranks.
Now, they’re running a successful business or consulting with global companies as an expert in their field. They never reinvented their lives. They never changed course. They knew what they were doing from the very beginning, and they stayed on track. So, that’s what you have to do, too. Right?
Wrong. If the path that you’re on right now isn’t the right path for you, then you owe it to yourself to change it. There’s no reason to compare yourself to others. And, just as importantly, there’s no reason to hold yourself to your current course simply because you’ve already been on it for some time.
The world is full of possibilities. Your entire life is a story, and you’re holding a pen to paper as we speak. Don’t settle for less. Don’t accept the idea that you’re stuck. Reinvent yourself now, but don’t stop there. Change as many times as you deem fit. Become something new each day. There are no standards to adhere to. It’s your story to tell: be sure to tell a story worth remembering.
