March 17, 2014

Today is my birthday.  I am 71 years old but what does that mean?  A birthday marks the day that we were born but does one particular day change anything really?

We can get ourselves caught up in a date, an age, or any number but I believe we are more than our physical body and if we let ourselves get caught up in something like age we are missing opportunities to truly experience life.

My father always told me that you were as old as you feel.  As I live a dream of mine – to travel, speak, write, and see the places I have always dreamed of seeing – I feel in some ways younger than ever before.  I look forward to future places, people, adventures and opportunities to grow.  Without personal growth (and change), we become stuck and stagnant and we lose our enthusiasm for life.

I believe that life was meant to be lived at “full speed ahead”.  That can be a scary thing because sometimes playing it safe with what we know seems secure.  I remember at one point of my life thinking that security (of income, home, etc.) was the dream.  However I have learned that even the things we count on for security are not really as secure as we hoped for.

So I decided why not step out into the unknown, to do something different.  What difference does it mean if a person is 21 or 71?  When we let age determine what we can do or who we are, we are short changing ourselves. We can let our age define us or we can define our age.  We can let a year determine what we can or cannot do, or we can decide. At 70, in spite of fear of heights, I did a Zipline.  At 71, in spite of fear of financial security, I have given up job and home to take to the road!

I refuse to let a number tell me what or who I am.  I refuse to just stop and sit and wait for the years to pass.  I know that I am responsible for what I do with the gift of life that has been given to me.  I have decided to use my time to help others and to live my dream. Wherever that may take me, only time will tell. We have no guarantees in life so why not take a chance and do what our heart tells us to do. On this day, my birthday, I am determined to live my life fully, to the best of my ability for as long as I can.

Here’s to life!  Here’s to a new year in my life!