The most common thing I hear from over 50 something’s is “what’s left for me now.” They see it as though time is running out for themselves, time is no longer on their side. They show a growing sense of fear and desperation seeing nothing more than limitations and weakness ahead of them.
I know how wrong they are. I for one began a major life transformation towards the end of my 40’s and now in my 50’s are enjoying many new experiences and am finding this part of my journey is as good as any part that’s gone before. All I feel is excitement and believe me that really makes the difference.
I learnt the power of following your passion. It causes a stirring deep in your gut, reverberates through your heart and echoes in your mind. It empowers you every single day. Your passion challenges you to step up and make far more of this time in your life, to no longer allow yourself to be less than you can be. It doesn’t matter how old you maybe, once you connect to your passion life seems to take a completely refreshed path.
What was it that made you excited 20 years ago? Do you remember? If you want to bring back that wow factor into your life then you have to find that thing that’s going to get you excited. The problem is sometimes it’s hard to figure out where to start. It takes a little effort to reconnect, but when we do it’s worth it. How much better than having a challenge to make us feel truly alive and energized. The same old routine can drag us down and cause us to stop realizing our own potential and all that life has to offer. Even when others would be ready to put themselves full time into their slippers and enjoy retirement, or not enjoy, others like me our setting off on a new journey.
One of the hardest things to do in life is to follow your heart. Not what you friends, family, teachers, boss and society tell you that you should be doing, but what your heart is guiding you to do. Maybe after all these years of mediocre living you’ve realised that has to be a better way. So you’re ready to remove the shackles and start building a life which truly has meaning. My hope is I can also influence a few younger people so they don’t have to wait as long as I did to make the discoveries I did.
You have to have a different mindset. You can either feel desperate about where you are and what you have ahead or you can be excited about your future and what life has to offer.
That’s not to say you won’t have difficult times. You will meet confusing, uncertain and perilous moments. You will face setbacks, breaking points, and failure. Sometimes all your efforts will appear in vain. Your path is rarely straightforward, the road rarely clear, and at times your struggle can be truly difficult. At times like these you will doubt yourself, it will feel easier to quit.
But you are an adventurer travelling your own path with a magnificent reward awaiting you. Having the guts to travel the unknown path, to create something worthwhile, takes courage, boldness and possibly madness. Many have thought this of me as I’ve explained I’ve been building a business online. They’ve looked at me in a way which communicated their thoughts “silly old fool.” Well old I may be, in their eyes, but silly I think not. Those that even read my blog would ask “ how are you going to make a living doing that”.
A quote that always empowered me from Eleanor Roosevelt said “Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. “ You will have a voice in your head that tells what the right thing is or maybe it’s just a gut feeling, but your heart that will always lead you to do what’s right.
The choice to follow our heart and do what we truly want in life, can be a challenging one requiring courage, commitment, inner strength and fearlessness. But the more you follow your heart, the better you get at it. It’s like with anything else; it’s not about being perfect, it’s about learning and trusting the process.
The worthwhile roads of life are usually long, and they always require persistent commitment. In my case no doubts a t times it was hard the money didn’t flow, directions we took proved less viable than initially thought. But passion for what I do drove me so my comes from that place I trust most—my own heart—and so I persisted. The results I am now enjoying have made the journey so worth while.
Listen to your own heart concerning the path you wish to travel. Even if your entire life taken you in a completely different direction, if it is not what want to be doing now, then begin the adventure of exploring the different road.
I’m the first person to admit that my life is awesome right now, getting better week by week. I’ve worked hard to get to the point where I’m at, and with a few lucky breaks. Soon things are going to be simply magnificent.
Never suppress and ignore your dreams. Take a look inside your heart and ask yourself what you would love to do more than anything else in the world. Take inventory of what you love in life. It’s time for you to wake up and connect with what you really want. And then act on it. Just know that we each have a unique gift, talent or service to bring to this world. It doesn’t matter how old you are when you wake up to this.
Once you find your passions bring them to a central point in your life. Believe me it changed everything for me.
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Larry, I totally agree with what you say about passion and its power to transform – it’s also useful, as you outline above, to be realistic and resilient.
Your post reminds me of a quote by the author Paulo Coelho, who said “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure”.
JN