"It’s too late for me."

Do you ever find yourself thinking, I’m too old for that, or it’s too late for me to do that?

Knock. It. Off.

Don’t you ever give up on yourself.

If you’re too tired or exhausted to live an awesome, you’re doing it wrong.

I’ve talked about my mother before, she’s 86 years old and you would never know it. I took her to a team-building event where she worked as my assistant. The attendees commented about how spry she was; drinking a beer and flitting around like a social butterfly.

I want to be her at 86, not some old lady who is acting her age.

I want to grow wiser not necessarily older.

I want to stay relevant. I want to know how to use the current technology. My mom has an I phone and is on Facebook and messenger.

I want to know what is going on the world around me, and I don’t mean by watching the news. I want to participate in the world - have a social life, sharing time with community, friends and family. 

I want to be fit and healthy and take care of myself.

I want to continue to add value to the world, whether with my work contribution, my creativity, or by sharing what I’ve learned.

I never want to let go and say, okay that’s it, I’m going to sit in my recliner and watch tv all day until I die.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”.

~George Bernard Shaw

 

There is no hurry to BE old.

It’s about what you create, the value you provide, not your age or the money you make.

Maturity is not being old.

There is no clock ticking down.

I’m too old is just an excuse. 

Following a particular timeline of aging is frankly old-fashioned…wink - wink.

Seriously though, it really is out of date.

In the not so distant past we really didn’t have much time for anything that wasn’t necessary. We had to take care of our family. Remember that birth control wasn’t invented until 1950…and it wasn’t available until 1960. Consider the traditional timeline below.

•  We used to become adults at eighteen.
•  We immediately upon adulthood went to college or straight to work.
•  We got married by twenty and became parents by twenty-one.
•  We were likely grandparents by forty.
•  And in 1920 we were dead at 54.

Today that’s 81.1.

We have nearly 30 extra years to play with.

We used to be at mid-life at twenty-seven, now that’s 4o, and I would argue 50, my mother smoked for fifty of her 86 years and is still going strong.

We didn’t have much time for career changes especially when our lucrative pensions were on the line. We didn’t consider not having children or not getting married.

Do you see how archaic that timeline is? Why are we still living by it?

Try reinventing yourself instead…

Our thoughts are creating our realities. Thoughts seed our actions so if we think we are too old to do something we won’t do it.

If we think old people feel aches and pains we will probably feel aches and pains, especially if we think we are too old to be active.

If we think old people can’t go to the gym or go dancing then we probably won’t. If we don’t go to the gym or go dancing, we get out of shape and we literally begin to diminish our bodies and our capabilities.

Old people who refuse to learn and use new technologies thinking they don’t need it...end up way behind and incapable when they find out they do.

If we believe it’s too late to change our lives then it probably is, but if we believe we can do anything - that anything is possible for us, then it probably is.

If you believe you are old - you probably are…

What do you want to believe?

In case you need more inspiration in order to believe what is possible for you and if you're like me and you Love to hear stories of people doing awesome stuff read on.

•  Yuichiro Miura climbed everest @ 80 for the 3rd time.
•  Johanna Quaas started gymnastics @ the age of 56 and now at 86 is still competing.
•  Hanna Fraser got her black belt at 72.
•  Nola Ochs got her Bachelor’s degree in General Studies at 95 and her masters at 98.
•  Stan Lee of Marvel comic didn't get his break until he was nearly 40.
•  Vera Wang didn't enter fashion industry until she was 40 years old, this after she was a figure skater and a journalist. I read it somewhere online, (It must be true).
•  The average age of business founders is about 40 years old.
•  Henry Ford was 45 when he made the Model T car.
•  Martha Stewart’s first cookbook and her first real success wasn't published until she was 41. She worked on Wall Street and as a caterer before.
•  Donald Fisher opened the GAP @ 40 with no previous retail experience.
•  Samuel L. Jackson didn't get his break-out role until he was 43 (Jungle Fever in 1991).
•  Kris Jenner pitched her show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, to Ryan Seacrest at 52...
•  Sam Walton started Wal-Mart @ 44.
•  Rodney Dangerfield was 46 before he got his first big role.
•  Steve Carell was 42 before “The office” was a thing.
•  Taikichiro Mori started real estate investing @ 51 and after became the richest man in the world in the 90’s.
•  Ray Kroc was a milkshake salesperson who bought McDonalds when he was 52.
•  Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book @ 65
•  Grandma Moses started painting @ 78.
•  Arianna Huffington started the Huffington post @ 55.
•  Harriette Thompson started running marathons @76 and still running @91.
•  Patricia Davies became a woman @ 90, formerly (Peter).
•  Fred Mack skydiving @ 95 and 100.
•  Vincent Van Gogh didn’t paint until 27.
•  Julia Child didn’t know French cuisine until 30. She only started appearing on The French Chef after turning 51.
•  The late Alan Rickman didn’t start acting until he was 42.
•  Fauja Singh, who became the first 100-year-old to run a marathon, started running marathons at the age of 89.

So you see, NO EXCUSES.