Today, I turn 52 but instead of thinking and planning my retirement which is a few years ahead of me, I am rather consumed with ambitions and dreams. I am full of new ideas and goals that I want to achieve. I am dreaming and daring for more out of life.
The beauty of life lies in the ability to dream and see your dreams come to pass. Growing up, we all had dreams of what we wanted to become. As children, we all had nothing to our names but our dreams and a lot of time. We relished the fantasies that came along with the dreams and imagined such beautiful and colorful dreams coming alive.
But then, as we transition into adulthood, the hustles and bustles of life sets in and reality dawns on us. We gradually gain awareness on how the world works. We become exposed to different people and places and a lot of things are fed into our minds about the possibilities and difficulties of life. These experiences make us question our dreams and introduces in us some level of doubts. We then reflect on our own capabilities and start rethinking our options instead of indulging in more dreams.
For instance, a child can confidently dream of becoming a pilot without considering the skills needed to become a good one. But then the child’s teacher could pass a comment such as; ’How would you become a pilot if you are not good at Physics?’. A comment such as this, though not be intended to discourage the child, is likely to make the child become self-aware and as well introduce doubts in the child. And that is how people unconsciously create doubts in us as we grow.
As we age, our ability to dream is reduced as a result of the things and the doubts that life brings our way. We gradually lose our ability to dream because we suddenly now live in a certain reality; and that reality also includes the doubts we now have about ourselves. Subconsciously, we see old age as a liability and being young as a currency.
In reality, being young affords one the ability to dream, dare and try a lot of things in life but becoming old should not make us put our dreams on hold. Age is a gift from God that grants us long life. And that makes age something out of our control, therefore, we cannot change how old we would want to be, but we can decide when and how to realize our dreams.
Living the best dreams of our lives is possible. And we can achieve our dreams at any age we choose to. History is replete with the stories of men and women who defied the odds and made new milestones in their old age and so can you.
Must We Allow Age To Gain On us? Dare To Live Your Dreams
Age is but just a number. When you flip the numbers that make up 52, you would have 25. As humans, we are naturally fascinated about achieving things at a young age but in reality, an exceptionally exciting life event will mean as much to you at 52 as it would at 25. So, I ask; ‘why the pressure to achieve at a young age at all cost?’
For most of us, we are not living our most desired dreams because we have allowed age to gain on us and dashed those dreams. But our ages should not get in the way of living our dreams. Our ages only determine our lived time on earth. It only serves the purpose of guiding us everywhere we wish to be because we live in time but it doesn’t determine our dreams. We are the ones that determine our dreams; and ultimately who or what we want to become in life.
We only live once and the best time to dream, dare, achieve and enjoy our lives is now. Our ages will constantly change each year but not our dreams unless we conscious change them. We are the ones to determine our ability to dream and what becomes of our dreams. We are the ones to tell whether life will happen to us or for us in the years to come.
Let’s not become victims of our ages. We can start from where we are and make steady progress regardless of how small. Our dreams will become a reality if we keep dreaming and taking the necessary steps in our quest to accomplish them.
Colonel Harland Sanders started his Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) business at 65 when most of his age mates had already retired from active working life. Today, he is a world-known figure because he dared to dream and live his dream. He made his dream come to life regardless of his age. The world celebrates him because he consciously dreamt and dared to live his dream even at an old age. And he did it with the right mindset.
Let’s Change Our Mindset and Make That Milestone
Dreams vary from person to person regardless of age. And making success of any dream at any age depends on the mindset of the dreamer. It is more about your mindset than it is about your age. Age does not stop anyone from dreaming and living their dreams unless they make it an excuse. We are the ones who put time lines on what we want to achieve at different stages of our lives.
Each one of us has been gifted and granted grace by God to become who and what we want to be at any age. Nothing is stopping us. The only thing standing between us and what we want out of life is our mindset.
Our thoughts create our reality. Who and what we have become and what we are becoming have been largely determined by our mindsets and its limitations. We are responsible for determining our individual dreams and working towards the realization of those dreams through the right mindset and not our ages.
It is our mindsets that set our pace and determine our space in life. We should be deliberate about what exactly we want out of life and work our way into making it a possibility through the right mindset. Make that milestone with the right mindset.
No One Ever Gets Too Old to Dream and Do More
None of us is too old to set goals and get those goals. We live in a free world and one of the joys of being alive is having the freedom to dream, dare and achieve our ambitions and aspirations. Age should not be the reason why any of us is not dreaming more or daring to achieve more. We are all capable of accomplishing our most desired dreams.
In both biblical and contemporary times, we are surrounded by great examples who defied the limitations of age and did amazing things and we can enlist ourselves as well.
Moses discovered his purpose at 80 years of age. Abraham discovered his purpose at 75 years old. David became a king at 30 years and Joseph became a Prime minister at 30 years of age. These biblical characters made giant strides at their various ages. They discovered what they had been destined to do and did just that in fulfillment of their purposes without age being a barrier to any of them.
In contemporary times, we can derive motivation from the life stories of people such as:
Emmanuel Gasa who started law school at 60 and graduated at 71 alongside one of his granddaughters.
Margaret Ford who became Britain’s oldest debut author at the age of 93 years.
Emmanuel Macron won a convincing two-thirds of votes cast during the French Elections held in May 2017; making him the youngest president of France at the age of 39.
Mark Zuckerberg and his friends founded Facebook in 2004 when he was a 19-year-old college student. Today, Facebook is a global brand and he is one of the world’s richest and most respected CEOs at 37 years of age.
Zaila Avant-garde became the world’s 2021 winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and holds three Guinness world record titles for basketball at age 14.
From the stories above, we get to learn that, it is never too late to make new milestones as an old person and it is never too early to achieve one’s ambitions at a young age. Achieving and living our dreams should not be dependent on our age. It matters very little whether one is 52 0r 25. What matters most is one’s resolve to do the work and work out the dream.
Whatever our most desired dreams are; be it going back to school to get that degree, or enrolling in a new course, or learning a new skill, or starting a business, or losing weight and staying healthy; it is possible.
It is possible to start and accomplish that dream. Set the goals. Get the goals. Putting time limits on our goals is good but fixating on the time lines isn’t helpful as it puts subtle pressure on us and eventually hinders our progress in that regard. Let’s learn to do it at our own pace if we must but giving up on our dreams because we are getting old is not an ideal option.
In concluding, I’ll like to re-emphasize that each one of us can make a success of our dreams at any age and become who or what God planned and purposed us to be. There is no definite time for realizing and living one’s dream. Every action each day counts. And the best time to make the most out of our lives is now. Act Now!
Need I say more?
Our thoughts create our reality and not our age! Age is but a number. Being 52 or 25 doesn’t really matter. Let’s go out there and recreate our worlds with our thoughts!
- By Cynthia Quarcoo – Founder of Africa 1 Media, CQ Legal and Chronicles of a working mother.
