It’s never too late to change
As an old(er) person I can confidently say that as the years fly by, they seem to speed up. So much left to do, so much time passing by. While you can look back and see the highlights, there are also regrets about the things you know will never happen now. Like fitting into that pair of jeans you wore when you were twenty. And all those alternate careers you dreamt about that you know are long gone.
Don’t get me wrong, life is far from over. You can still change jobs and careers, travel the world, lose weight and do whatever you want. But I am talking about those high-level dreams you had that you hoped one day would come to fruition, but you never did anything about them. And the reality is that making one choice about something means that we miss out on another.
In a way, it’s a bit like being a parent. When your child is born you have all these hopes and dreams and imagine how they will be and the life they will lead. It very rarely turns out that way. As parents find out, your child will have their own personality and their own dreams which may or may not coincide with yours. And that’s how it should be.
It’s part of the indomitable human spirit and psyche that for most we have hopes and dreams which never die until we leave our human body. But some people I talk to in their 50s and beyond talk about being too old for this and too old for that. And sure, you might not have the physicality to climb Mount Everest but look at what you can do rather than what you can’t.
We all know the old adage that nobody ever said on their deathbed, I wish I had worked more. But who wants to finish their life with regrets about the undone things? Look at people like Estelle Getty who was in the US hit, The Golden Girls. She was 63 when she achieved real fame in that role. In literature, Frank McCourt was 66 years old, when Angela’s Ashes was published. Even Colonel Sanders established KFC at 65 years of age. And there are many other examples of high-profile people becoming an overnight success in their later years. I achieved a master’s degree at the age of 60, not bad for somebody who left school at 15 years old and never thought they were capable of such a thing.
And one client who was in the same career for over 30 years changed their career entirely, in their fifties. If you are starting to feel like the clock’s ticking and you have some unfulfilled dreams, now is the time to take some action. It may be a career change, or it may be a plan on transitioning to retirement. For some the word retirement brings a feeling of dread. But with some planning (and a little dreaming) there is no reason your life can’t continue to bring you fulfillment and fun.
If you want some help gaining clarity about what’s next, get in touch. I would love to talk to you to see if we can bring a new spark to what is a good time of your life.
