You are Never Too Old to Chase your Dreams!
As children, we think we can do anything, achieve anything, and be anything. When does that dim in us, and better question, WHY does it dim in our hearts and minds?
I hear from people almost everywhere I go. “Well, good for you; I am too old to start over. Too old to start a new career. Too old to move across the country. Too old to write that book I have talked about forever. Too old… you get it.
To that, I say, hogwash!
Many famous people didn’t hit it big until later in their lives.
Some examples:
- Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first novel when she was 65.
- Peter Roget created the first thesaurus when he was 73 years old.
- Colonel Sanders was over 50 when he invented his famous chicken recipe.
- Ronald Reagan held political office for the first time at age 55.
- Duncan Hines, at age 73, licensed the right to use his name to the company that developed Duncan Hines cake mixes
- Ray Kroc was in his 50s before he bought the first McDonald’s in 1961
And then, of course, is someone I speak of often, Mr. Walt Disney. Walt had a very tumultuous career. He failed in the cartoon industry and some of the first feature films. Even the original opening of Disneyland was dubbed “Black Sunday” by critics, but we all know how that worked out.
Disney once commented on the benefits of failure: “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all the troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
And we women, more often than men, tend to get to the point in our lives where we think, “well, I raised fantastic humans, helped my partner do (fill in the blank); that must have been my purpose; I wish I had (again, fill in the blank)” Stop it! Have unfulfilled dreams? Stop reading right now, grab a pen and paper and write that thing you have been longing to do, that which has remained a tiny voice in your head for all the years; write it down now. Now, form a plan to make it happen. Even small, little steps will one day lead you there.
I finally found people in my 50s who allowed me to have a voice for the first time. To embrace what I knew I had to offer the world, I started Customers First at 56. At 57, I took control of my health and lost almost 100 pounds. At 59, I left my life in Ontario behind and moved across the country to follow through on a promise I made to my late father as a teenager. And at 61, I am writing a book and hitting stages worldwide, sharing my message with the world.
It is never too late. Dream Big. But don’t just dream. Chase those dreams and work them into reality. Your ten-year-old self deserves to meet your future self. They dreamt it first.