Ok, I get it. I’ve been creative my whole life. But then there was my day job – community development director, project, and city manager. (PS: These jobs are not void of creativity, I use the same skills that enhance my art to solve problems in my day job career.)
So that large body of artwork just never happened. I plan to remedy that in retirement, but here I am at 66, still working. The Great Recession ate into my retirement accounts significantly, and I must continue working at a day job.
The creative spark came to me to start seedbop in December of 2021. My seedbop vision came to me unbidden and fully formed, including the branding color yellow. I could begin a web-based coaching business to supplement social security doing what I truly love– talk to people about their hopes and dreams and problems and accompany them as they explore ways to navigate life in the direction they had always wished for. And talk about spirituality and letting the Higher Power be our guiding light.
But I’m 66. Yes, my family is long-lived. And this year, when I had a CT scan for an entirely different problem, the radiologist discovered something growing on my brain that should not be there. While it’s likely not going to affect me much, of course, I (in this same brain) immediately went to: It’s too late, I don’t have enough time, What if I start and my health prevents me from continuing, What if I get burned out and don’t want to do it anymore, What if everyone thinks this is stupid, What if someone sees I have gray hair and decides I’m irrelevant, etc., etc.
Twyla Tharp, in her book The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, written when she was 60 – just saying! – calls fears “the habitual demons that invade every project.” Translated – fear is natural; we all have them. To this, she says, “Toughen up.”
Some people want to kill off the fear. That hasn’t worked for me. My advice given what has worked for me: Say hi to the fears, send them love, and move on to taking action. Ignite your spark and blow on it until it becomes a fire that cooks up something extraordinary.
And sally forth. Those ‘it’s too late, and it will never work’ thoughts are with me daily as I make this happen. Good morning to your thoughts; now I’ve got to get back to work.
#8 But I’m too old – you are not too old! It’s never too late to tap your creative genius and manifest your dream!
July 3, 2022
By Leslie
