You're Too Old for This Sh*t
How To Take Your Life Back
Think you’re too old? Yep. You are. Here’s what I mean.
We hear it all the time today even from people in their thirties. Twenties, even.
I’m Too Old.
Too Old for what?
A woman her mid-thirties told me she was “too old” to start running marathons. I was so shocked I couldn’t respond. When did we start robbing our future, the future we’ve earned, by making such statements?
Was she really too old? Are YOU too old to do those things you’ve always wanted to do?
Is there a “use by” date which dictates that it’s all over, like those black Hallmark cards for someone turning forty?
Let’s talk.
You ARE Too Old. But perhaps not the way you think.
In a world full of ageism and age hate, you and I are Too Old to buy into the nonsense that we’re Too Old.
Let’s start right now with a list of some of the biggest lies we’re told, some we might even be saying to ourselves, and what I believe is true:
Too Old to start over.
Any day, every day, TODAY is when you and I get to start over. We are Too Old to make the idiotic assumption that we can’t begin again. The heart and soul of life is the chance to try again. Even if all we’re changing is our minds.
Too Old to have love again, have sex, to have joy.
You and I are way Too Old to believe that the ONLY time we can ever have love, intimacy, companionship is when we’re young. People find romance and romping between the sheets all their lives. It’s up to us to be open to it.
Too Old to have adventures and fun and explore both our inner and outer worlds.
You and I are way Too Old to believe that we can’t go see the Grand Canyon or the Caymans or explore Budapest or the Amazon. Why not you, why not now? Age isn’t the issue per se. Willingness -okay, and funds- to have joy will do it faster. The greatest journey above all is the inner one, and that is also the most exhilarating. Okay, and terrifying.
Too Old to start a new sport.
You and I are way Too Old to believe that we can’t work out at the gym, or try out pickleball, or become a marathoner. It’s ridiculous to believe that a calendar dictates what you can do. You decide that. While you may not opt to run
Tough Mudders, there are endless amazing choices which can keep your juices flowing and your body youthful. I took a shot at aerial silks…at 68.
Too Old to completely retool our health and have an active life.
You and I are way Too Old to believe that it’s too late to reverse the effects even of decades of bad habits. Lifestyle illnesses in particular respond well to habit changes. While this may not work in some cases, it can in most. About 75% of our quality of life as we age is strictly up to us. Those are terrific odds in our favor!
Too Old to make our lives over and live a dream.
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. As long as we have right here, right now, we can still dream. And if you and I can dream, we can often turn that into JUST DO IT NOW.
You and I are WAY Too Old to believe that we’re too old.
Look, hell, sometimes I hear this voice in my own head. That’s how insidious and pervasive the messaging is. We’re telling ourselves these lies and that’s costing us years, if not decades, of top-quality living.
That’s criminal.
What’s REALLY criminal is to be called “elderly” for the forty-year period between 60 and 100.
This is how we end up with reasons, excuses and regrets instead of a life full of memories, adventures, and experiences.
Why would we rob ourselves of life? Let’s not. Not just any life, either. A full life right up until our due date.
Don’t believe me? Think you really are indeed Too Old?
I’m probably not the writer for you.
I am the writer for those who absolutely believe that there’s a lot of life left to be lived, even at eighty or ninety-nine. Most of us need a little guidance getting there. I sure did.
Okay, okay, so I needed to be shoved in the butt by a bison, all right?
I’ll share what I found and what I keep finding which points to really good news.
Stuff that doesn’t cost your life savings and which can, with some determination on our part, redirect a life which went off the rails. Mine did, multiple times. Time and experience teach us how to get back up. That’s precisely why we get better at it, how we build resilience as we age.
Guaranteed: we will fail, flail and fall.
Not because we’re old.
Because we’re living. Taking chances.
Being fully in life, in other words.
And we need a community to support us while we’re getting back up, rehabbing, whatever it was that took us out. For now.
I plan to keep on sharing the best of what I find so that we can all benefit.
Because you’re getting old, too. Let’s do that well. Even better, let’s do it together.
Why this and why right now?
Because we are an aging nation, aging world. As we age, we need good news because…
AGING IS HARD DAMNED WORK.
Ageism, and lies about aging in general, make life so much harder. Aging can and should be THE biggest of all our adventures.
After all, it’s our last.
Okay. So why me?
In the photo below, I’m 67. Half my life ago I was obese. Dropped 85 pounds. Kept it off for 35, still keeping it off. I also battled eating disorders for forty years. I’ve been bankrupt, divorced (okay YEAH, by this age who hasn’t, right?) and had the world’s worst Krispy Kreme donut addiction.
These days, at seventy, I’m an international adventure athlete and prolific writer, working on my third book. For the last twelve years, I’ve done what people talk about, dream about but rarely ever do: mountain climbing, sky diving, scuba diving, extreme horseback riding, river rafting, kayaking, bungee jumping, paragliding.
Here’s the real kicker:
I didn’t even start most of that until I passed sixty.
Too many of us retire to the recliner and the remote at sixty. I went remote. I trained to hike and summit Kilimanjaro. Did summit.
After Kili, I turned to adventure and writing full-time. Today I’m constantly educating myself on nutrition and exercise and the best thinking- based on science and research- and putting the basics to work to see if they work.
I’m also dedicated to personal growth, exploring where so many keys to our happiness lie waiting for us to find them. Like everyone, I have my inner demons. It’s how we learn to waltz with them which allows us to live in full.
As a result I’m living my very best life right here, right now, well past the point where society said that I shoulda hung up my hiking boots. I break things, sprain things, and fail miserably at much of it.
Then I find my funny, bounce right back up and get after it again. That’s the secret sauce. It’s not how many times you fall. It’s how often you get right back up.
You and I are worthy of a lot more in life than steady decline from forty onward. Especially as we’ve aged and gained perspective and wisdom.
You and I have earned the right to a better aging experience.
You also deserve good value for the eyeball time you spend with someone, especially if you choose to support them. So…
Check out my writing style.
I am deeply honest, funny, quick to own it when wrong, and even faster to make fun of myself when I fall down. Which is a lot. You should see my supply of scooters, walkers and crutches. No, really. I have enough to stage races.
If this sounds like a good place to hang out, read a few stories (coming shortly).
See if my material feeds your heart, inspires your soul and rattles your funny bone.
Above all I will never make a claim I can’t prove. Not just a promise. It’s a matter of integrity. No “in-fake-fluencers” here. None of my personal photos are shopped.
Okay fine, so now what?
What follows this opening salvo will be a series of pieces to showcase my work.
Expect about two articles a week, thereabouts, depending on if I am ITMON.
ITMON: In The Middle of Nowhere, preferably without signal. I’ll be back to the keyboard soonest.
At some point I’ll invite you to consider supporting me (or you can leap aboard right now), and explain what you get as a paid subscriber vs. free. By that point you’ll likely be clear on whether you and I are a good fit.
I can’t wait to find out if we are. If not, no hard feelings. I’m not everybody’s cuppa.
Someday if you’re lucky, you will be very, very old.
I’m working hard to make my journey to that point amazing. I will direct you to other fine writers whose material is worthy of your attention. I will continue to meet, interview, and share others who are also determined to live an amazing life in their third act.
Let’s be the inspiration.
It’s my heartfelt desire to support as many people as possible who, like me, know this to be an absolute truth:
You’re Too Old to be told you're TOO OLD.
Let’s play.
Sound good enough to support my work right away? My goodness (blushes). Thank you and here you go:
Does this sound like something someone you care about might need to hear? Please share:
Looking forward to reading more! I am 57 and very recently retired. You will be a great encourager to me.
My goal is to squeeze all sorts of fun and love and adventure out of his next chapter. Just booked a February ski trip to Lake Tahoe and will be biking in the Black Forest next month. Let's gooooo!
Thank you for moving me to my core! I turned 58 two days ago, and while I have spent my entire adulthood saying "Thank you," and "Yes, really," to people who think I'm one to two decades younger than I am--depending on my stress level at the time--I am (still/always) struggling with being in a body. I fully embrace the "never too old" mentality about most things, and as a therapist (licensed at the ripe age of 52), I can readily promote and hold that vision for my clients. Tonight, I really needed to hear this.