by Dr. Cindy Briggs
WOW! Did I really entitle a blog post… “you will still be old!”? Yes, yes, I did. Stick with me on this, because I have a point (and it’s a pretty good one!)
I have been blessed in my career to get to “influence” thousands of people. Am I an influencer you may ask? Well, yes, but not in the way you might think. For the past 20 years, I have been a college professor and a business coach. Each year, I would have approximately 15 classes going a year (I did full time and part time for many years). If I average 30 students in each class, that comes out to almost 9,000 individuals I have had the pleasure of teaching. When I think back… I am astonished myself!
Every year, I would encounter several people who would share with me they couldn’t do something because they were too old. I have had hundreds of adult students over the years…. and we would have this discussion. They didn’t think they could get a Master’s degree because they were too old. They didn’t think they could change careers because they were too old. They didn’t think they could start a new hobby because they were too old. I think you are getting the point here.
Somewhere along the way we have convinced ourselves that there is some magical age when you can do things, or when you can have a new dream. I am not sure what that age might be… but it is out there somewhere and we hold on to it.
Here is my reply… .always… YOU WILL BE OLD ANYWAY! WHY NOT BE OLD DOING THIS NEW THING! (I don’t yell it…. but I wanted the point to be big here.)
We are all getting older. I am older today than I was yesterday, and I am MUCH older this year than I was 20 years ago, and I will be even older tomorrow. That doesn’t mean I can’t do something new. It doesn’t mean that I can strive for a dream that has been buried deep inside of me. I just have to DECIDE that I am worth it, and then make an action step.
Let me be very honest here… I had gotten into a rut myself. I had dreams…but I kept thinking I was “past that”– ugh! And to think I have pushed people to chase their dreams. In 2021 I started really thinking about this– I chased a few dreams but then got scared.
This year it is ON! I have been doing new things, trying new things, and coming back to some BIG GOALS! Let me share with you some of mine (and I hope you will share yours with me!)
Cindy’s “never too old” GOALS (I will be 54 this year!)
- This year I started taking voice over lessons from an expert in the field (not sure if it will go anywhere, but WOW is it fun!)
- I signed up as a Seint make up artist! I have always wanted to learn more about makeup and I wanted to do it with a company that has clean ingredients (yup, even in my 50’s!) You can click the link to learn more about that.
- As a hobby, I started decorating detailed dollhouses (this one has been a dream since I was in high school). It has been so fun! I will share pictures on my Instagram and Pinterest accounts.
- I started working out daily… this is new for me… I have never been committed to this. Thanks to my coach Ann Schulte (@annbschulte) for making this happen.
- I have gotten serious about writing my book (like scheduling time daily to write)
These are what has happened so far, and I am not quitting. I don’t want to add too much where it won’t get done, or I will feel overwhelmed… but I am serious about these items at this point in my life.
Here’s the thing friends– we have to decide to NOT grow old. We can age, and we can age gracefully, but we don’t have to be old in the way we think. We need to stretch ourselves and be scared sometimes. It is ok to try and fail…. it is NOT ok to never try!
What are YOU going to try that is new, or scary, or even terrifying? What can be next in your journey?
Dr. Cindy Briggs is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, college professor, wife and mom. Her mission is to provide programs that can help entrepreneurs and communities thrive. To find out more, visit www.cindybriggsphd.com.
