Most of us have dreams, ideas, passions that we would love to pursue. We think of them from time to time, then we tell ourselves, “but I can’t do that!” You make up a reason: I’m too old, I don’t have the education, I don’t have the connections.
Do you feel that you’ve wasted parts of your life not doing what you are designed to do? If you look a little closer, you will find that those years have given you life lessons. You have developed skills that are preparing you for your now… if you are brave enough to embark.
When my kids were younger, I was focused solely on raising and homeschooling them, but I stillregularly took any opportunity to speak in public. I actually hated it, but I forced myself to do it, even if it was just getting up in front of some moms and giving a presentation.
I took a position of head of a homeschooling co-op that required weekly public speaking because there was a little voice in my head that said, you need that practice. One day, you will be on stage speaking and you need that practice. I don’t know why or from where I had that knowledge, but it was there. It was my deep knowing- that little inkling. You have one too, if you pay attention to it.
Although I spent many years not doing what I am doing now, those were formative and growing years, not stagnant years. Now, I do speak on stage. Now is the season.
Wherever you are on your journey, you are in a good place. Whether you are growing or launching, you are right where you need to be. It’s never too late to become all that you can be.
Listen up as I share with you some incredibly talented women who were late bloomers:
VERA WANG:
She started as a figure skater, then turned journalist. At 40 she started thinking of becoming a bridal designer. Now, she is globally renowned in the Fashion world.
Don’t be afraid to switch it up. Don’t buy into the message that it’s too late to pursue your old dreams or your new passions.
Something crazy happens when you tell yourself lies about who you are and what you can do. Something crazy happens when you limit yourself or say, I’m too old, I should act my age, I need to give that up– your brain and body acquiesce. Your brain believes you and starts acting accordingly.
If you notice yourself talking in a limited way, stop it. Replace it with encouraging talk.
We humans were meant to produce until we die. This concept of retiring is a modern one because so many people are not doing what they love. They are working in jobs that they hate.
I don’t intend to ever retire. Just like Maya Angelou, Mother Theresa and many others, when you are doing work you love and believe you were designed to do, retirement is not a goal. So, even if you retire from the work you need to do to support your family, there are many years to do work you love to do to support your soul.
JK ROWLINGS:
She started Harry Potter when she was 32, and didn’t finish the series until she was 43. Her first Harry Potter books weren’t even that successful. She was living below the poverty line when she wrote the first book of the Harry Potter series. Rowling’s struggles extended past her financial status too–she experienced multiple bouts of depression, but she was able to use writing as an outlet to escape her darkest days and eventually that led her to world wide success as a writer.
PATRICIA FIELD:
Fashion designer who dressed Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City and was nominated for 5 Emmys. She was 54 when she got that gig and worked for years on that series.
JUDI DENCH:
English Actress, best known for her roles in the James Bond movies, didn’t start blooming as an actress until she was in her 50’s.
JULIE CHILD:
She is one of the greatest culinary icons of all time. She created the idea of the modern celebrity chef- and she did it after the age of 50. America’s most iconic TV chef and author didn’t learn to cook until she was 36 years old. In fact, she originally wanted to be a novelist. She wrote plays and short stories, but was never published.
Those years weren’t wasted. It took all those mishaps, the trying and the struggling to get her to writing her first cook book, which was published shortly before her 50th birthday. The first episode of her Emmy Award-winning PBS show, The French Chef, first aired in 1963, when she was 51 years old.
There are countless more women, who aren’t in the limelight, who didn’t let their age or how long it took stop them from accomplishing their goals. These women have found their passion later in life and have had tremendous joy living it out.
I know a woman who started taking pottery classes in her 50’s after her kids were grown. Within a few years, she was selling her pottery at fairs and events. Now, in her 60’s she has her own pottery store. I have some of her earlier works in my home and she laughs at how terrible they are in comparison to her current work. It’s amazing how far she has come.
We were never meant to stop dreaming. As long as we have breath, we should be producing in this world. We all have talents and abilities that are unique to us and the world needs to experience them.
When people are interviewed on their deathbeds or write about their lives in autobiographies, their major regrets tend to be the things not done.
It’s painful to feel like you haven’t lived out your true purpose. But you don’t need to feel this way! Make today the first day of your new journey towards avoiding regret.
Small changes, can create huge ripples. Think of following your dreams, as small, baby steps that add up.
Your identity is not set in stone. You are writing the story and you determine the next chapter, if you dare! That is my challenge to you today. Go chase that dream!
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