IT’S NO ACCIDENT Cll - Sunday, January 15, 1984 - North Shore News Living on the edge is a choice the growing edge IT SEEMS quite clear to me that to live at the growing edge isamatter of choice. We don’t just happen to live there. We don’t drift into it. About the experience we can- not say, ‘‘I just happened to be in the neighborhood and wow! There I was at the growing edge!’’ Not at all. Being there is one of our op- tions. We have a choice. CHANGE CAN be scary. Change can be exhilarating. It is always a challenge. By the time they rech their late middle years women have usually experienced several dramatic transitions. They. have learned the value of flexibility and adap- tability and have usually pro- ceeded into each new stage with eager anticipation. But something is different this time. The new role is not obvious or clearly defined. There is much more opportunity for individual choices and for many women it is the first time in their lives that they have had the freedom to decide how they will spend the bulk of their time. Renate Griffiths will be helping women to assess their priorities and explore their options in the ‘*New Direc- by Hayden Stewart Freelance Counsellor Hayden Stewart may be reached at 261-6242 for appointments for individual, family or group counselling. Some of the options open to us are quite readily tecognized. Do you want some forinstances? There’s the one that pro- mpts us to say, ‘“‘That’s all there is, there isn’t any more.’’ We sing that song when we have convinced ourselves that we have arriv- ed, that we need only settle The fear — of ch tions’’ program being offered by North Shore Family Services. The next course begins January 25 at 1 p.m. in the agency’s Board Room at #202-145 East tSth Street, North Vancouver. Over the eight weeks of the course participants will learn how to take stock of their strengths and skills, how to make decisions and set goals and find out about options in volunteer work, employ- ment, continuing education and leisure. It is also an op- portunity to make new friends in a joint endeavour. The fee of $26 may be sent or taken in person to pre- register at North Shore Adult and Community Education, 721 Chesterfield Ave., North Vancouver, V7M 2MS. Fur. ther information ts available at 988-5281. if you hate winter like we do .. . take off to somewhere hot with SWIMWEAR and SPORTSWEAR at 30%-50% OFF With savings like these, you may forget all about winter! HOLLIDAY FUNWEAR 104 West 13th St,, North Van. 987-7513. FREE Underground parking CHOU M INE SAT 10 down and enjoy our perfec- tions. We might call that op- tion Self-Righteousness. Usually all that is needed to blast that option to kingdom come is a little time. Sooner or later we come to know it is an invalid choice. Another option for us is to settle down into a conviction that we are Bad People and 25% Re therefore doomed to blind- ness to any signs of a possible light at the end of some care- fully chosen tunnel. Another alternative to liv- ing at the growing edge is liv- ing at the dying edge. Life has not been too rewarding and so at the doddering old age of 45 or 50 we choose to see ourselves as being assign- ed to failure or mediocrity and proceed to act the part with stunning authenticity. Any opening into a more en- thusiastic attitude toward life we tend to consider illusion. We don’t deserve it, so it can’t be real. A final option that some of us choose is atrophy. The Ox- ford dictionary defines it as ‘‘wasting away through im- perfect nourishment.”” We understand the definition when it relates to the physical body, but there is wisdom for us in applying it to the spiritual and emotional aspects of life, and seeing it as related to the héalth of our relationships and our team- work with those we love and, indeed, to love itself. Atrophy results from all kinds of ‘“‘imperfect nourish- t”’ including such.a sub- OFF Fabrics Add new life to worn. tired furniture Woodwards will reupholster o1 slip cover your furniture in the fabric of your choice at 25% off our regular price Have that special chair or sofa look lke new Choose trom tamous fabric names such as Sanderson When slipcovering. you can also have matching drapenes made with a scivings of 25% off on the tabbric For tle diet as disuse. If we do not USE our resources, we ex- perience atrophy, or a steady drifting into weakness. We have cited only four ex- amples of common. aiter- natives to living at the grow- . ing edge. All of them are ef- fective but puny enemies of the emerging and fulfilling life. I say they are puny because each of them can be reversed by choosing to reverse them! Atrophy, you see, can be turned into new and developing strength. It’s very rewarding to turn ATROPHY into A TROPHY'!. - holster now! a no obligation estimate, call Woodward's [orapery Department at the following Woodward stores @ Downtown (Van couver ) 664-5231 © Park Royal 922-6111 ® New Westminster 521-9611 © Oakridge 261-3311 © Guiidiord 588-2111 © Seven. oaks 853-7711 @ Lansdowne 270-3322 ® Coquitlam 464-2722. WOODWARD'S REUPHOLSTERY SELLING THROUGH SATURDAY, JANUARY 28TH. > VANCONVER 6845231 PARK ROYAL 0226111 OAMRIDGE 261 3311 SEVENOAKS 053.7711 NEW WESTMINSTER 9219611 GIRLDIFORD 588 2111 LANSDOWNE 270 1147 COQUTTLAM 464 2727 ALi ITEMS AVAILABLE WHILE QUANTITIES LAST ~s.