Maven5Q: Elizabeth Marquis Mayorca
Elizabeth Marquis Majorca
Elizabeth Marquis Mayorca
Elizabeth Marquis Mayorca is a poet, essayist and playwright who has been teaching violin and viola for twenty years. She has two teenage daughters and a 49 year old cat (in human years) named Clotilda.
What is the most surprising part of being in this stage of life?
The most surprising part of this stage of life is that I care less about what other people think. I wish I cared even less. I wish I cared less 20 years ago. I allowed myself to be talked into situations I should have walked away from.
What’s one new thing you’re trying to embrace in mid-life?
One new thing I’m trying to embrace in midlife is honoring my desires. I haven’t done that fully yet. I honestly don’t even know what that looks like, but I know it’s a possibility and I’m ready to discover it. Speaking my truth is getting easier and easier though, and I love how speaking my truth feels.
If you could give yourself a piece of advice 20 years ago, what would it be and why?
20 years ago, I let myself be influenced by what other people told me to do or not to do. I listened to criticisms and silenced myself, made myself smaller. I thought my voice didn’t matter for a time. I wish I hadn’t listened to others’ influences. I had an inner compass; I still do. I trust myself. I wish I had trusted myself more back then.
I plan on trusting myself more in the next 20 years.
What’s something that our generation had access to that you’d like to bring back?
I wish the bookmobile would come to our neighborhood. I wish my family would turn off the TV and play games together or just sit and talk to one another.
If the next 20 years of your life had a theme, what would it be and why?
In the past, I put my body last, and now I’m putting my body first. I’m caring for my nutrition, I’m going regularly to the doctor for checkups, I’m researching how to make it through perimenopause and menopause, and I’m saying NO more and more often. But I could say NO more. It is still so uncomfortable to say NO. I need to work on that.
MEET US IN THE COMMENTS!!
What would you bring back from your youth? I do love Elizabeth’s remembering the BookMobile…What a concept:)
ICYMI
I’ve really enjoyed chatting with the new subscribers who found us on the Homeworthy site (se below). The most common comment I am hearing when I ask them what they would like to hear more about is:
“How to find my purpose in this next phase of life.”
There is no one answer but many, to how we seek, try, succeed, fail and try again with this next big phase of life. I guess that is what WSG is all about. The motivation to try new things. Hearing from people who have tried new things and how it went!
PS
Be sure to check out Substack Notes! It’s a more casual way for writers and readers to communicate, but no less important than our posts!
Kim, thank you for your wonderful questions! I was so intrigued by them, I felt compelled to answer! Seeing my answers here makes me reflect even more deeply in what I wrote off the cuff. After hiding my writing and stalling on my Substack for years now, this conversation gives me renewed inspiration. The fear of being seen grabbed hold of me as I got older. I love how you reach out to other women and are truly curious about our inner worlds. I’m so glad (and humbled) that I reached back to you!
What would you bring back from your youth?
I do love Elizabeth’s remembering the BookMobile…What a concept:)