It's Never Too Late

It’s Never Too Late

If you think life is passing you by or the parade is over and you’ve missed it, think again.

This post is for those of us who are in the second act of life. You know, in some ways we are just now getting a good start, and we’re perhaps over sixty years of age. How about that!

This quote speaks to me on a lot of levels.

It’s never too late 

to be who you might have been.

I’ve written and talked of wanting to be a writer for over forty years. Oh, I wrote a lot of stuff earlier in life:

   Checks
   To-Do lists

   Grocery lists 

   Christmas wish lists 

   Assignments for work

I even wrote a few serious pieces – like my first published article at age 29. I was paid $22 for that epic work. Later, I had a series of articles published in a now-defunct magazine called “Bookstore Journal”. I wrote video scripts, marketing copy, commercials and a whole passel of other writing projects but never felt qualified about calling myself a writer until after publishing my first book – The Letters.

That book was published when I was sixty-three. At last, I could call myself a writer. And the writing continues.

My friend Paulette Woods is in her eighties, and she just published a new book – I See You There. It’s good and insightful, and I’m going to borrow a few ideas in the days ahead for my own blogs, and she knows this.

In Texas I knew a man in my Toastmaster’s Club who was seventy-six and he was learning to play the flute. A lady in that club was eighty-two and was taking sky-diving lessons. Heavens to Betsy – what was she thinking?

I’ll tell you what she was thinking. She didn’t want her life to pass her by without attempting some of the dreams she had held onto for a very long time. She realized that the parade was not out of sight, and she could still catch up and play her part.

The one regret of people in nursing homes that is repeated time and again is this.

I Wish I Would

Have Taken More Chances

Our opening quote bears repeating.

"It’s never too late 

to be who you might have been."

I once was a broad-jumper in track-and-field events. I can’t do that anymore.
I once ran the 50-yard-dash.
I loved biking all over Albuquerque. I can’t anymore without the help of an e-Bike.

But look at what I can still do. And look at what you are still able to do.

In these days, LA Fitness has become one of my places to go to for exercise. I’m not the most muscle-bound participant there. On some days, I turn in a disappointing session. I fatigue quickly. My muscles just won’t make another turn of the bike pedals, and yet I go. I go because I see subtle differences in the little bit that I do. My strength is returning, I’m feeling better, sleeping better, breathing better. I had the privilege of telling two of my doctors recently that I felt better than I’ve felt in seven or eight years.

They were amazed.

The meds are still a part of my daily routine. Protein is still a vital element in my diet.

I’m not a spring chicken anymore, but I am a wiser and more mature and healthier version of myself because I have a goal and dream of who I want to be and I’m moving at my own pace in the direction of those goals and dreams.

Here’s a funny incident. Just yesterday Carolyn and I were in our favorite bookstore in Fairhaven, Washington. I was doing my usual browsing when a seven-year-old boy come up to me and said, “Do you want to arm-wrestle.”

What boldness. 

What brashness. 

What spunk. 

What guts.

What an unusual young man.

I politely declined. Frankly I didn’t want to be embarrassed because he just might have won that arm-wrestling match. He went on to say, “I just beat my friend Charlie in arm- wrestling.” I mumbled politeness and we went our own way.

A huge part of this philosophy of “It’s Never Too Late” is the ability to know our limits, for there are limits in what we can do.

I don’t subscribe to the philosophy of “You can do anything you believe you can.” I will never be a ballet dancer. I don’t want to be one. I don’t desire to be one, and even if someone convinced me I could become one, it ain’t gonna happen.

But look at what I can do.

Here’s the thing.
It’s never too late to be who you might have been.

P Michael Biggs

Hope Encouragement Inspiration