I’ve long been in love with pictures of roads. I think it stems from my “gypsy feet.” My grandmother was a true Romanian gypsy and I get my wanderlust and love for exploring from her. The specific pictures of roads though, have specific reasons for me as to why they are a good symbol for pivoting.
I took the picture on my home page when I hiked the Basho Trail in Japan. The reason I did that was because of a picture I saw in 2008 in the February issue of National Geographic. I knew when I saw that, that I wanted to walk that trail and see what was ahead. The path looked so beautiful to me and I wanted to explore it. From time to time I’d google the “Basho Trail” thinking that I could figure out where it was and how to get to it. It turns out that this walking path is 100 miles long and follows the route taken by Matsuo Basho in the late 1600s. He’s the poet credited with starting haiku. Some think he was a spy for the emperor and he would travel from village to village collecting information. The trail today winds through forested paths, mountain trails, and country roads. It passes temples, shrines, ancient villages and more. It’s not a continuous 100 miles, but is carved out of trails through various national parks throughout Japan. When I got serious about finding this trail, I discovered the tour group Walk Japan. My husband and six of our friends hiked about half of it with a guide in 2017. It really satisfied the explorer in me as well as my love for Japan and all things Japanese. Its symbolism for me at this point reflects that I’m exploring what is next for my latest pivot. The picture on my home page is from my hike, which I was actually on exactly seven years ago today!
Another picture that means a lot to me is “A Turn in the Road” which is an etching by Bertha Jaques I bought many years ago. Given my gypsy feet, I’ve traveled all over the world and the US - I’m soon to visit my 50th state. Bertha Jaques was also a traveler which appealed to me and I was told when I bought this etching that she was the first woman printmaker. This is not true, but she’s still an amazingly interesting woman of the arts. I love this picture as it represents several of my life’s themes - love of traveling being the first. Another is that I’ve collected art when I travel. When I was a poor college student, I found that I could buy an etching or a painting and it was light weight to bring home as a memento of my trip. I bought this etching while traveling as the image of the turn in the road appealed to my heart years and years ago - where does that road go when it turns? The other theme for me is that it’s important to me to support women as she did as a mentor. As the first woman in many of my early career roles, I had little support. While women don’t need as much support anymore, I still will help any colleague who needs a referral or support for getting a new job or just needs a thinking partner.
When I retired the first time and announced this, I used a picture of an open road somewhere in the southwest. It was a good choice as it was a straight road, disappearing into the distance. For a year, I did disappear, but that turns out to be not the right choice for me. I'm not ready to disappear. So, redirecting and using pictures with a curve in the road, representing a pivot are a much better symbol for me.
What symbol works for you to represent your next pivot?
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