Passion & Pursuits

What’s stopping you from pursuing your passion? Perhaps it’s not having the time, or the means, or even the self-confidence to take a dream and follow it through. So many of the residents now living at The Highlands are finding the time, the opportunity, and certainly the encouragement to pursue what they truly love!

Maybe it’s expanding one’s horizons with a class taken on campus through the Midcoast Senior College, to learn for the sake of learning. Or it could be reading a good book and discussing it with others at our book club. One resident attended a class on writing memoirs. She found her voice, and wrote not one, but two books about her own life, writing honestly and finding deep satisfaction in the result. This led to more essays and poems.

For those who have the passion to create with their hands, there are other opportunities as well. “A Collection of Talent” was an art exhibit at The Highlands featuring paintings, photographs, quilting, needlepoint and ceramics, all created by residents. “We all did it together,” insists the very energetic resident who first had the idea. “It was fun, it was nice to do it and I’m just thrilled! This has pleased me more than any one thing over the years.”

Residents who had not picked up a camera in years because they “never had the time,” are finding they now have the time to be creative with photographs, without worrying about raking the leaves or getting the roof fixed. Musicians are picking up their instruments again, with one resident joining the Midcoast Symphony, the community orchestra in Topsham. Others who may have left a piano behind are often sitting down at a baby grand in the Maine Lodge, once more playing familiar melodies.

For some, it’s simply the passion of giving back as volunteers in the greater community. Whether it’s Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the Midcoast Maine Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program, Habitat for Humanity, or simply reading to a class of first graders at the elementary school a few blocks away, the passion of giving is fulfilled. It’s all in keeping with The Highlands’ long-held philosophy of always striving to be a part of the community… not ‘apart’ from it.