Reinvent Yourself

For every platitude there are ten self-help books you can buy that try to tell you how to achieve that goal. Want to be a millionaire in ten days? Book for that. Start your own internet business with no money and make ten thousand dollars your first month? Couple of books for that. Want a better relationship with your kids, spouse, co-workers, or pet? A whole aisle of those.
   And then there's reinventing yourself. There are even books on tape for that.
   Trouble is, there's no one definition for reinventing yourself. Some people just want to stop smoking, others want to lose weight, others want to drop a dead-end career and begin something new and fulfilling.
   I'm looking to reinvent myself too. But I have no idea how to go about it, mostly because I don't know what I mean when I say 'reinvent myself.' I'm in that demographic sweet spot, just comfortable enough that I don't feel the need to become a freedom fighter up in the hills, but not so comfortable that I want to keep on this same path the rest of my life.
   Kids are a pleasant interruption in most people's lives. You have a few kids and you know that for the next twenty years you're going to be raising them, teaching them, making them responsible citizens and then seeing them on their way. For a few decades you have a reason to endure the daily grind. But I ain't got kids. Want 'em, don't have 'em. So I'm kind of at loose ends here.
   Midlife crisis? Perhaps. But I think it's both less and more than that. I do keep thinking there has to be more I can do to help other people, to make a difference instead of just... consuming like an American does. But maybe I should just shut up and keep my head down until my time is over.
   Nah. Can't do that. I think, maybe, the struggle is the thing. The struggle to be heard, the struggle to be successful, the struggle to overcome yourself so you can get what you know you need instead of what everyone else says you should want. You only lose when you surrender.
   Besides, if I really wanted to 'reinvent' myself, I'd go with a prehensile tail and laser beam eyes. That would be cool.