“There’s so much more that I still want to do. I bought a golf set at Costco last week because it was 50% off. Do you golf?”
She paused. I lifted my pen from the spiral notebook I’d been furiously jotting notes on and caught my breath. She’d been free-flowing her Wellness Vision to me for the past minute, and I’d done my best to capture the essence of what she was envisioning. Strength training because I do Zumba five days a week and I think I should start resistance training. Clearing out all of this clutter in my space. Feeling more ease. Simplicity. Spaciousness. My husband’s been gone 7 years, and it’s like there’s an entire part of myself that is finally waking up and coming alive.
Out of the hundreds of clients I’ve supported over the years, I’ve never met anyone more enthusiastic to create her Wellness Vision.
She’s 82.
And yet she sees an entire life still ahead of her, with experiences yet to create.
Below is the spoken word poem I wrote to conclude my keynote for the "Reinventing Aging After 50: Age Your Way" Conference. I invite you to challenge preconceived notions of aging and instead ask yourself "What if?"
First, create a new framework of possibility. And then bravely live into it.
What if Laura Ingles Wilder, who still wasn’t published at the age of 62
surrendered to writer’s block and chose something easier to do?
What if Ginette Bedard never started running at 69?
What if she resorted to eating Bonbons in a chair reclined,
Reading trashy magazines and sipping wine-
She’d never know the thrill of crossing a finish line.
She refused to believe her body was done
And completed her 12th consecutive NYC marathon
at the remarkable age of 81.
What if Colonel Sanders was a driver for DoorDash?
Instead of recipe testing, he wanted quick cash
He was in his 60s! He could’ve said with a sigh, “If Church can make chicken, then shoot, why should I?”
But he believed in his vision, all his skills he applied
And that’s why today we have Kentucky Fried.
What if the story you’ve told yourself about aging isn’t true?
What if there’s so much more that’s left for you to do?
Instead of worrying about how many years ‘til we die,
What if we wondered how to maximize the years we’re alive?
There are still experiences to enjoy and memories to make,
There are books to be written and art to create.
There are friends to support and wisdom to share,
There are stories to tell to people who care.
Your body may move differently than it did before
it takes a little while longer to pick up something off the floor
and sometimes you forget the keys in the door
and your memory may not be as sharp as before.
But one thing’s the same- you!
You are still you! Right down to your core.
Every one of you is a marketing scout
Who has the power to transform what aging is about
It begins with your vision of what you want to create
So go live, and report back, “Glorious opportunities await!”