“I
never laughed so hard and cried so hard in all my life.”
Born and raised in New York City, Joel Stein graduated from New York University Business School. After serving two years in the US Army, Joel worked 18 years as an accounts executive and agency principle in advertising. He switched careers in mid-life to become a corporate bond broker on Wall Street where he spent 21 years and retired in 1991. Joel is now an art consultant.
It
was a whole mess of things that made me take a hard look at Avatar®:
retirement, moving to another city, and lack of friends; that empty-void
syndrome was rearing its head. My wife had heard about Avatar from several
friends and now she was ready to take the plunge. As usual, I decided to tag
along, but probably only for the one-day introduction.
The first day made sense
to me. It was totally non-threatening, so we went the whole nine yards. The
group melded, yet we were all separate and distinct. I was nervous and anxious
about what the next day would bring, but each day brought a new insight, a new
ah-hah dispelling my fears.
But really, was this
going to work for me? Me, who had given ten hard years to therapy early in my
life? Me, a mature, educated man of 62 who must know all the answers, given my
chronological age?
"Yes," is the
answer.
While Avatar appears
complex, it is utterly simple as you work it each day. Demons dissolve and
anxieties are blown away. To repeat what I said to my group at the end of the
course: "I never laughed so hard and cried so much in all my life."
It sure beats two weeks in the Caribbean!
Oh yes, did Avatar
change my daily life? Only if you count my new career as an art consultant,
our many friends in the Avatar network, and a new sense of community where we
live.