My birthday is coming up January 1st. I use this end of the year time period to take stock of my life and where I stand. This year as part of my focus on re-purposing your life at any age, I have also spoken and advised both young women starting out and older women starting over. Here is what I have learned:
Physical age may have a number tied to it but spiritual and emotional age should not. We can accomplish anything we want at any age if we choose too, and many people have.
I spent my 20s building my career, my 30s building my business and reputation in it, and my 40s building a life with the man I love and live with. I look at the fifth decade and have said to myself, “let’s build something else that has more meaning, more purpose, less stress and a better foundation to live by.”
Don’t let anyone say you are too old or too young. You can be great at any age. Here are some women who did great things in their 50s and 60s:
At age 50 Beverly Sills became director of the New York City Opera.
At age 51 Sandra Day Connor became the first women supreme court judge.
At age 52 Ayn Rand completed “Atlas Shrugged.”
At age 53 Margaret Thatcher became Great Britain’s first female prime minister.
At age 54 South African breast cancer survivor Louise Cooper completed the 135-mile Badwater ultramarathon just five months after completing chemotherapy treatment.
At age 55 Rachel Carson wrote “Silent Spring,” which publicized the indiscriminate use of pesticides and helped rally support for environmental protection.
Ar age 56 Toni Morrison finished writing “Beloved.”
At age 57 Annie Peck became the first person to summit Mount Huascaran in the Andes.
At age 58 Bostonian Mary Baker Eddy establishes the Church of Christian Science.
At age 59 Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross.
At age 60 Dr. Hattie Alexander discovers the cure for bacterial meningitis.
At age 64 Betty Ford opened the Betty Ford Clinic to help people fight substance abuse.
At age 65 Laura Ingalls Wilder publishes “Little House on the Prairie.”
At age 67 Louise Boyd became the first woman to fly over the North Pole.
At age 69 Mother Theresa wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
You are never too old to change your life, change the world, or change your mind.
If your outlook is ageless your opportunities can be endless.
What’s stopping you?
