I’m not far off 60 years of age. The odds of dying soon are closing in. It could be tomorrow. (If it is, please come & empty the fridge – I’ve just done a big shop!). Conversely, I could have over 30 years left. I’m in good health, so it could go either way. However, each option suggests to me that there’s stuff still to be done before it’s too late.
Growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s, my generation wasn’t really aware of mindfulness and ‘positive thinking’. Nor did we have an easy ride career-wise, as the working world transitioned before our eyes, from manual typewriters and filing cabinets into the all-encompassing technological age we’re in now.
It has to be said that this state of affairs has produced a lot of resentful, unfulfilled ladies. Me? I’m no longer one of them. I’m now enlightened and going to make the last season of my life, the best of my life
40-40-40
Although family and teachers didn’t knowingly discourage us from achieving our potential, we were taught to be realistic with our goals. Dreams were what happened when you were tucked up in your cosy little bed.
We expected the 40 -40-40 existence. Work 40 hours per week for 40 years, to retire of 40% of what you couldn’t survive on in the first place. That’s life!
After a successful career in marketing in my 20s and 30s – due to financial mis-management rather than lack of achievement, my business failed. In those ‘keep it real’ days, I believed that to mean “Stop right there. Do something else, you’re rubbish at this.”(Despite having been at the top of my game for a good number of years … It’s just how the mind works to deal with a bad situation I suppose.)
No-one suggested that I could take my skills and transition into another career. And I was too embarrassed to talk about it, let alone get back up and carry on.
Goodness! I wish I’d had access to mindfulness training then. But before Google and social media, if mindfulness was ‘a thing’; I certainly wasn’t aware of it. You don’t know what you don’t know!
So from being a super-confident, successful company director, I can see now that I’ve spent the last 14 years believing that I’m a failure. Taking on jobs that just paid a wage. Unwilling to consider the ‘responsibility’ of a career-role, believing that I was no longer capable. I’d tried and it wasn’t meant to be. And besides, my knowledge was redundant now, technology had moved on at such a pace.
In fact as recently as 4 years ago, if you’d have suggested that life has a lot more to offer – I’d have said ‘Oh be quiet. I’m happy enough– I’ve got a lovely family, a decent house – nowhere near enough money – but who has? I’ll just have to get by. You can’t have everything.” And that would have been the lie that I told myself. It saddens me now when I hear ladies my age believing that to be true.
It’s Possible!
So as time marched on, my ‘this is as good as it gets’ attitude joined forces with the visible signs of ageing. I could never have imagined being ‘happy’ to look in the mirror; imagined starting out on a second ‘encore’ career where the only limit to my success is me; or imagined being able to line my pockets with wealth – not only monetary, but wealth of love and great times.
Enter stage left, my discovery of Mindfulness and the Law of Attraction. A totally new and overwhelming concept to me, and received with a snigger by those around me. “Well you always were good at changing your mind!” my husband joked.
But seriously, once I accepted that my old way of thinking wasn’t doing me any favours and started to believe that anything is possible, it was!
Through learning to access and retrain my unconscious mind, I’ve managed to undo some of the traits I thought I was stuck with.
Like giving up alcohol – freedom from the confines of the ‘it’s 5 o’clock somewhere’ drinking brigade; I’ve lost 22lbs in weight and had a confidence-sapping lazy eye fixed – by finding the assertiveness to challenge the authority that had told me it can’t be done. Recently, I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone to launch my company, which combines new digital marketing skills, with my old business and marketing experience.
I’m back! I believe in myself again.
So as my final season approaches, I hope I’ll be able to spread the message to my contemporaries – that we’re not too old and it’s not too late. Change is possible. Just do it!
Don’t you even think that I’ll be blending into the wallpaper as a sweet old lady. ..
Be ready to think ‘Oh c**p. What’s she up to now!”