“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” ― Mary Oliver
I adore Isabel Allende’s point in her TED Talk, How to Live Passionately – No Matter Your Age, that we always feel younger than we are because the spirit never ages. My friends and I often talk about the fact that we feel younger than we are, and that only changes when we meet someone who is that age and realize that we are indeed not. But, I do think that keeping your spirt and heart young is important – as it allows you to believe in possibility and to live passionately, as Allende recommends.
Your attitude or mindset is everything. Listening to the things that Allende no longer worries about at the age of 71 made me stop and think about the things that I tend to perseverate over and ask myself if it is really necessary. As she says, “It’s great to let go. I should have started sooner.” We are such an age obsessed society and have a tendency to see life as over once you hit a certain age. Yet more and more people like Isabel are proving how untrue that is – which makes me stop and ask, “What’s the rush?!”
We look back at our past with rose-tinted glasses and perspective, but if we could live in the now with that same forgiving perspective, how much better would we feel? As Allende points out in her interview on TED Radio Hour, Is Aging Really So Bad?, “I know that in ten years I will look at pictures of me now and I will say, ‘Wow – she looked pretty good for her age!’ I’m never going to look better than now – this very moment.”
Allende’s talk made me stop and reflect on the importance of trusting that I will continue to learn and grow and that, god-willing, there is plenty of time to write many different chapters – it all doesn’t have to be done tomorrow. The important part is working on my “being” or internal mindset and keeping a passionate heart. The rest will fall into place accordingly.
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