You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis
I woke up last night at about 2AM which is typical. Like most people my mind takes over during these early hours. Sometimes I worry about the kids despite the fact they are grown. I worry about our finances and envision being broke and 80. I worry about being alone and lonely. I worry about my cholesterol and the ice cream I ate. I make things up in these early hours and I begin catastrophizing.
Can 55 year old women still have a dream?
Last night I decided to suffer through the doubts of having a dream at my age. How many years do I have left anyway? Why didn’t I believe in myself when I was younger so I’d have decades in front of me instead of behind me? Why am I such a dumb ass that I drank my way through my youth only to find myself when I’m well into middle age and headed into old age? Who am I to be 55 and decide it’s time to start writing seriously and who am I to have a dream and a goal such as this? I’ve wasted too much time. There’s not enough time left. I can’t write a book. I’m crazy.
Then I remembered how I got through the early days of sobriety. I remembered how thoughts could worm their way into my brain and change the way I wanted to think. They took me away from myself and told me lies that stole my confidence. I have decided to deal with dream stealers the same way I dealt with the wine witch. NQTD, Never Question The Decision. I learned this from Holly Whitaker, author of Quit Like a Woman. It’s a mantra I hold close to my heart. Just murmuring NQTD over and over again can clear my mind and it let’s me start new again. Try it, it seriously works to break up a thought pattern. When you break up a thought pattern you can let new and more positive thoughts lead the way.
Dreams are good for us and keep us young, focused and in charge.
At about 2:15AM last night and about 10 rounds of NQTD I decided to was okay for me to dream and not focus on my age and all the limits that a person can set for themselves. I know I am at my best when I am focusing on a goal, a dream, an achievement. It makes my life more interesting and fills up those empty spaces of time I seem to have. The kids are grown, they have lives of their own, and they are just fine. It’s time for me to be just fine too. Dreaming about writing a book is not just a dream. It’s a reality, and every day I write I am getting closer to fulfilling my life long longing to be a writer.
Let’s dream together. Let’s understand we are better when we are dreaming, creating, and using all the different and marvelous and unique talents we are given just by being alive. Dreams can be big or medium or small. I’m beginning to think it’s the act of dreaming that matters most. It’s a wondrous thing to be fully alive at 55.
