Beautifully written. I truly enjoy your references and bravely. Couldn't we all be so brave? Our communities need your words of advice, powerful statements to rally folks to know they have one precious life and to do good, do something! Thank you!
Hi fellow 85 female. I enjoyed reading your post and feel similarly. I invite you to visit, read, and subscribe to my column on SubStack at Reflections at 85 that I started in the summer.
I like the reminder that our days need to be congruent with the future we want. For many years I have had trouble visualizing my future, I knew what I wanted but I just couldn't see it in my mind. That is getting a little easier but I still have to work at it.
I want a peaceful life, relatively free of drama and conflict.
I want to feel like I am helping myself and others live fully, so to do that I need to stay in alignment with what is important to me. At this point it's writing and teaching and I don't anticipate that changing.
I want to read, drink good coffee and engage in meaningful conversation IRL and online.
I want to get/stay fit and as healthy as I can.
I want to have the personal resources to be resilient and soft, like a tree standing in the wind.
Hmm, it appears I have a very long list! Thanks for making me think about this Janice❤
No, but I will! I am going to assess my options and come up with a plan that works for me. One that I can manage and enjoy! It shouldn’t be too hard to do if I put my mind to it! Thank for your encouragement through your writing. I just love your enthusiasm ! It is contagious!
Lovely, Janice! Yes, I have a plan. But first I had to surrender to my physical and financial limitations and accept that not everything is possible any more. ACCEPTANCE is my mantra for this year,a letting go without struggle, and embracing my new reality.
Sharron, That's a huge piece of it - everything isn't possible any more - accepting and embracing our reality in the moment is key. I can have my plan, but tomorrow it may change given a new wrinkle or circumstance.
Oh! Absolutely we must plan! What did we used to say? If I don't know where I am going I may never get there! I have just learned to set my goals at realistic levels avoiding more disappointment.
I'm reminded of something my husband, Don, used to say Janice. "Honey, you go ahead and have a joyous time making all the plans you want to make - just keep in mind that you cannot plan the results. :-)
This 10-year plan is invigorating! It gives a well-balanced shade of glam (travel), working loosely held goals (writing, art and learning a language), and staying in the moment (love and companionship) with fur babies and family. I loved this piece! Thank you for the details... something for me to think about... I don't have a 10-year plan and what my ideal life looks like at the moment. I'm getting used to physical changes, being newly married (3 years, but new for me since it's my first, and I'm going on 66 years old), and trying to figure what I can do and what needs letting go. The key takeaway for me from reading is striving for balance and a loosely thought-out direction I'd like to journey through.
I look forward to each of your words of wisdom each week more than you can imagine. The words give us all a goal to consider. I can’t imagine my life 10 years from now. There are too many variables.
I know what I would like it to look like. Sometimes what we want and hope to have, isn’t possible to see now. After marriage, people grow and change in different ways. What you thought was going to be life, will never be. I can wish and hope as I have for many years. You have to be real with yourself so 10 years from now, you won’t be disappointed. The Dali Lama has suggested if you only deal with the truth, you won’t ever be disappointed and the lies you tell yourself are the ones that hurt the worst.
Hi Susan, Your point is well taken. In thinking about it, I hold my plan for the future loosely - kind of a target to shoot towards with the understanding that it is not a given, there are variables, people and things do change. Four years ago my future plan was that Dan and I would age well together, that didn't work out. So, I had to adjust. It really depends, though, on which approach helps each of us manage our lives best.
I now have a plan for my ideal future, do you?
Beautifully written. I truly enjoy your references and bravely. Couldn't we all be so brave? Our communities need your words of advice, powerful statements to rally folks to know they have one precious life and to do good, do something! Thank you!
Hi Katie, Thank you so much! So true - we have only one life - one precious life - to live. I want to do the most I can with mine.
Hi fellow 85 female. I enjoyed reading your post and feel similarly. I invite you to visit, read, and subscribe to my column on SubStack at Reflections at 85 that I started in the summer.
Looking forward to reading your posts.
Rachael Freed
I like the reminder that our days need to be congruent with the future we want. For many years I have had trouble visualizing my future, I knew what I wanted but I just couldn't see it in my mind. That is getting a little easier but I still have to work at it.
I want a peaceful life, relatively free of drama and conflict.
I want to feel like I am helping myself and others live fully, so to do that I need to stay in alignment with what is important to me. At this point it's writing and teaching and I don't anticipate that changing.
I want to read, drink good coffee and engage in meaningful conversation IRL and online.
I want to get/stay fit and as healthy as I can.
I want to have the personal resources to be resilient and soft, like a tree standing in the wind.
Hmm, it appears I have a very long list! Thanks for making me think about this Janice❤
No, but I will! I am going to assess my options and come up with a plan that works for me. One that I can manage and enjoy! It shouldn’t be too hard to do if I put my mind to it! Thank for your encouragement through your writing. I just love your enthusiasm ! It is contagious!
I like the questions you list and plan to sit and make them into a further list to add to the Shimmer List.
I'm 72 and some days, after hard graft, the body feels like 102 but I just pile on the Voltaren gel, swear like a trooper and try to get on.
But I do experience fear periodically although perhaps that's for another time.
PS: Thank you mentioning Knots in the String.
Hi Prue, I love it! "the body feels like 102 but I just pile on the Voltaren gel, swear like a trooper and try to get on."
Lovely, Janice! Yes, I have a plan. But first I had to surrender to my physical and financial limitations and accept that not everything is possible any more. ACCEPTANCE is my mantra for this year,a letting go without struggle, and embracing my new reality.
Sharron, That's a huge piece of it - everything isn't possible any more - accepting and embracing our reality in the moment is key. I can have my plan, but tomorrow it may change given a new wrinkle or circumstance.
Exactly. We have to detach ourselves from our wishes sometimes and reflect on actual circumstances and real possibilities..
Which doesn't mean we can't have a plan for the future, does it?
Oh! Absolutely we must plan! What did we used to say? If I don't know where I am going I may never get there! I have just learned to set my goals at realistic levels avoiding more disappointment.
Exactly . . and even my plan for the future - although it seems practical to me in the moment - may have to change as I change or circumstances do.
I'm reminded of something my husband, Don, used to say Janice. "Honey, you go ahead and have a joyous time making all the plans you want to make - just keep in mind that you cannot plan the results. :-)
Hi Marilyn - and that's the truth of it.
This 10-year plan is invigorating! It gives a well-balanced shade of glam (travel), working loosely held goals (writing, art and learning a language), and staying in the moment (love and companionship) with fur babies and family. I loved this piece! Thank you for the details... something for me to think about... I don't have a 10-year plan and what my ideal life looks like at the moment. I'm getting used to physical changes, being newly married (3 years, but new for me since it's my first, and I'm going on 66 years old), and trying to figure what I can do and what needs letting go. The key takeaway for me from reading is striving for balance and a loosely thought-out direction I'd like to journey through.
Hi Patti, I think that's an important point - a loosely thought-out direction for where you want to head.
Thank you for your comradeship as we travel this time together.
Hi Sandy, And that's what it takes, I think - a comradeship as we travel this part of the journey.
I look forward to each of your words of wisdom each week more than you can imagine. The words give us all a goal to consider. I can’t imagine my life 10 years from now. There are too many variables.
I know what I would like it to look like. Sometimes what we want and hope to have, isn’t possible to see now. After marriage, people grow and change in different ways. What you thought was going to be life, will never be. I can wish and hope as I have for many years. You have to be real with yourself so 10 years from now, you won’t be disappointed. The Dali Lama has suggested if you only deal with the truth, you won’t ever be disappointed and the lies you tell yourself are the ones that hurt the worst.
Hi Susan, Your point is well taken. In thinking about it, I hold my plan for the future loosely - kind of a target to shoot towards with the understanding that it is not a given, there are variables, people and things do change. Four years ago my future plan was that Dan and I would age well together, that didn't work out. So, I had to adjust. It really depends, though, on which approach helps each of us manage our lives best.
Go Janice. You are a brilliant example of aging well and truly living. An inspiration x
Hi Cali, Thank you so much. How are you doing?
I always enjoy your posts Janice. Good reminder about visualising 10 years ahead. You are very inspiring. X
Thank you Lee.
Love this post Janice ! It is so very encouraging and inspirational !
Hi Heather, Thank you. I have so much, I want to do yet.