Better late than never

I recently saw a movie called “The Rookie.” It’s based on the true story of a man named Jim Morris, who after countless years as a high school science teacher finally got up the courage to  follow his dream of playing pro baseball. Despite throngs of nay sayers telling him he was waaaay over the hill, Morris attained his dream and made it to the majors as a pitcher– at age 35 – an age when most pro pitchers have already hung up their cleats and started doing commercials for baldness remedies and Viagra. 

John Glenn flew in the Space Shuttle at age 77 – some 30 years older than the next oldest member of the flight crew.  My wife, who has, to my knowledge, never flown on the Space Shuttle and whose fastball would cross home plate .. um.. eventually, sold computers for years, which would have been fine except for one small problem – she HATED selling computers. So finally she hung it all up and launched her own portrait business. Now she wakes up each morning barely able to contain her desire to paint. Oddly, I can’t seem to interest her in painting our backyard fence. Not sure why…. 

So, are you looking at your life’s clock and realizing that you may be a tad closer to the finish line than you are to the starter’s pistol and are wondering “Why am I still stuck in this dead-end job?” – not that there is anything wrong a dead-end job, mind you. But it’s never too late to follow your dream… Ok, admittedly, when Nadia Vedonovich decided at age 82 that she wanted to become a ballerina in Moscow’s famous Bolshoi Ballet, well, perhaps she should have re-thought that one just a bit longer, particularly because she lived in Moscow, Idaho. But I digress. It’s your mental and attitudinal age that matters, not the number of rings around your tree trunk, which in my case has expanded at a rather alarming rate, I might add. 

We live in a society ruled by SHOULDs. We face tremendous pressure to do what we think we SHOULD do for a living, rather than what we’re passionate about. The need many people feel to  fit in with society’s stereotypes about success, combined with our fear of failure keep many of us from doing what we’re passionate about until we feel it’s too late to follow our dream.  Nowadays, it seems we’re supposed to know what we want to do for the rest of our lives by the time we’re 21. Who made up these rules anyway? Heck, I’m glancing back at 40 vanishing in my rear view mirror, and I still don’t know for sure what I want to do for the rest of my life. And why does it have to be “for the rest of your life” anyway? Why not “for the next three years or until I want to try something different?” 

Ours is a youth-centric culture, with arbitrary definitions created by Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood about what constitutes success – typically having something to do with an impressive stock portfolio, a Rhodes Scholar fashion model for your third spouse, and a car that  comfortably cruises at speeds 40 miles an hour faster than you’ll ever be legally allowed to drive.   No wonder that we internalize all too early and unconsciously to follow the safe and respectable path to “success” rather than following that path less traveled – the one where our dreams lie. 

So here’s my two cents. No, I am not suggesting you quit your 8-to-5 job today and tell your spouse you’ve decided to open a surfboard shop in Bora Bora (although, if you are looking for a partner, let’s talk after the show).  I AM suggesting that you not look at the Martha Stewarts of the world for your definition of success – particularly about that stock portfolio part I mentioned earlier – and start listening to your own inner demons, er, I mean, inner voice. 

The truth is, age is a state of mind more than body – at least I sure hope so, or else I’m in serious trouble. If you’ve been avoiding following your passion because you have a chronic case of the “Shoulds,”  “I can’ts” or “I’m not good enoughs,” I suggest you replace your internal tape collection with some more contemporary sounds, like “It’s MY life”, and “I CAN!” The only person truly capable of stopping you – or starting you – bears an uncanny resemblance to the person you saw in your mirror this morning – who by the way, forgot to floss again … but I digress once more. 

So whether your 27 or 72, what are you waiting for? Last I checked, unless you believe in reincarnation and aspire to return to this planet as a goat the next time around, I am fairly confident you only get one trip around in this thing called life. Why not spend the rest of yours following your dreams instead of someone else’s.