Are you letting your age make your decisions for you? Do you catch yourself saying, “I’m too old for that” or “it’s too late now”?
Chances are you are. But you’re not alone.
We let our age make our decisions for us, consciously and unconsciously. It’s no wonder. The media, social media, our coworkers, our friends and family, they comment on our age all the time. Even when it’s well-meaning, we start to believe that after a certain point, we’re too old to change. We are, essentially, age-discriminating ourselves.
We start to believe it’s too late to change careers. Too late to write that book. Too old to get fit or learn something new.
None of that is true. It’s almost never too late to do anything.
It’s Never Too Late
Author Raymond Chandler’s literary career started when he was 51. Anna Sewell, who wrote Black Beauty, started writing at 57, and so did Annie Proulx, who went on to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for her second novel. Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth at age 77.
Swedish blogger Dagny Carlsson learned to use a computer and started her blog at age 99. Yes, 99. She became a media sensation, appearing on Swedish TV and in a documentary, and kept writing until she passed away at 107. Incredible, right?
As we age, our interests change, and that’s normal. We’ve hopefully figured out what actually matters and shifted our priorities. And yes, avoiding injury becomes a real factor in choosing our activities, because recovery gets harder as we age, whether we want to admit it or not.
But none of that means we should stop growing. It doesn’t mean we give up on our dreams and goals.
We get brainwashed into believing we’re old, that it’s time to slow down and live quietly. So we do. We sit more, we move less, we stop doing the things we used to enjoy. Social media doesn’t help either; it’s constantly geared toward 20- and 30-year-olds chasing fitness goals and building wealth, so it’s easy to feel like we’ve already missed the boat, like we’re no longer relevant.
But it’s not really about age. It’s that we stop moving, stop challenging ourselves, stop putting ourselves out there. We are, quite literally, making ourselves older.
So what do we do?
- Keep moving. Go for walks. Get up more often — much more often. Dance around the living room.
- Lift weights. Hold on to the muscle you have and build the muscle you’ll need as you age.
- Eat well. What you eat — and don’t eat — makes a real difference in how you age.
- Try new activities. Gardening, chess in the park, salsa lessons, golf — whatever pulls you in.
- Learn something new every day. Challenge your brain on purpose.
- Socialize. The people who live the longest are the ones who stay connected.
Movement, activity, and connection are what keep us young. Stop using your muscles, and they wither. Stop challenging your mind, and you risk losing your edge.
Learning shouldn’t stop when we graduate. It has to be a lifelong habit, because learning means you’re using your brain, just like moving your body keeps you from losing muscle. Use it or lose it.
And you have to keep switching it up. If all you do is crosswords, your brain adapts and stops being challenged. Learning a new language is one of the best ways to keep your mind sharp. So is picking up an instrument, or learning the steps to a new dance, like ballroom dancing.
What Have You Given Up On Because of Your Age?
What have you always wanted to do, but crossed off your list because you decided you’re too old, or it’s too late? Or maybe you never even let yourself think about what you really want. Isn’t it time you did?
Grab a notebook and answer these questions:
- If I couldn’t fail, what would I change in my life?
- What’s actually important to me?
- Have I fulfilled my career aspirations?
- What have I held back on, or never tried, because of my age?
- Looking back on my life, what will I regret not doing?
When I can’t decide whether to pursue something, I ask myself three questions:
- Will I regret it later, when it really is too late, if I never tried?
- Will I regret it if I do pursue it?
- Does it fit with what actually matters to me?
Have You Lost Sight of What's Important?
We lose sight of our real priorities more often than we’d like to admit or even realize, and we need to remind ourselves regularly.
Most of the time, it’s the things we didn’t do that we regret, not the things we did. Are you ever going to say, “I wish I’d never written that book,” or “I wish I hadn’t learned Italian,” or “I wish I’d never gone to Paris”? I don’t think so.
Experts and family alike might tell you to downsize, to get a smaller home. But if your passion is gardening and hosting big family gatherings, downsizing might not fit your vision for your life, even if it sounds like what you are “supposed” to do.
Don’t let anyone else’s opinion of what you “should” be doing decide how you live. That’s why it’s worth taking the time to discover your priorities, passions, and goals as you age. You have to know what you want if you want a meaningful, satisfying life.
I, for one, refuse to live a small, unfulfilled life just because I’m nearing 60. It feels like I’ve spent most of my life waiting to live on my own terms, and I’m not about to sit down and give up now. This is just the beginning.
Changing Your Mindset, One Day at a Time
Changing your mindset is hard, especially when you’ve spent decades conditioned to believe you have to follow a certain path as you age.
The key is expanding your comfort zone in small steps:
- Go sightseeing in your own city.
- Plan a weekend trip.
- Buy tickets to an event.
- Take a cooking class.
- Join a neighborhood walking club.
Your brain wakes up when you do new things. When you repeat the same routines day after day, your brain goes on autopilot. No effort required, and brain activity actually declines. The less you do, the less you want to do.
Your brain likes comfort. It’ll tell you to keep doing what you’ve always done, because that’s where you feel safe. Do the opposite. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s where you grow, and it’s how your brain stays sharp.
Keeping your body and brain active takes a conscious decision and effort, repeated over and over again.
Learning New Technology After 50
Don’t let AI scare you into thinking you have to retire because it feels out of your realm.
You have decades of lived experience and expertise that a 20-year-old fresh out of school simply doesn’t have yet, even if they act like they know everything. Instead of feeling left behind, recognize the advantage. You grew up having to think for yourself. Information wasn’t handed to you at your fingertips before you’d even gotten out of bed.
It’s easy to feel like a dinosaur next to newly hired, much younger colleagues who are convinced they already know what’s wrong with how things are done. And to be fair, fresh perspective is valuable, especially if you’ve been in the same job a long time. We should embrace new ideas and listen to other viewpoints. But it’s also true that when you’ve been somewhere for years, you have more to lose, so it’s tempting to stay quiet, stay in the background, and hope someone else solves the problem. Sound familiar?
When you’re young, you have less fear and fewer hang-ups. You don’t even know you’re “supposed” to do things a certain way, so new ideas come easier. When you’ve been at a company for years and have more on the line, rocking the boat feels riskier. It’s easier to just keep quiet.
But that’s exactly the trap. It’s why it feels impossible to change careers, switch jobs, write that book, or learn a new language at your age. You’re on autopilot, your brain is chasing comfort and safety, and you like it there. Just know that if you stay in the comfort zone, you’ll stay there, until someone forces you out.
Wouldn’t you rather be the one in control of what happens to your life?
Learning AI Is Not as Hard as You Think
It’s on you to stay sharp and to put in the effort to learn new tools and technologies, including AI.
AI is here to stay, whether you like it or not. You can ignore it and keep doing what you’re doing, but the people around you won’t, and that’s exactly how companies get left behind. Remember Blockbuster. Remember BlackBerry. Both were at the top of their game, and both kept doing what they’d always done while everything changed around them.
AI isn’t actually difficult. Sure, writing your own code to build AI tools from scratch isn’t easy, but you don’t have to do that unless you want to. So many doors have opened that used to require knowing how to code. You can build your own app without writing a single line of it yourself.
It can feel intimidating at first, like it’s over your head. It isn’t. It’s mostly new jargon and figuring out how to prompt the right tool for the job. It is much simpler than it looks. If you can put a thought into words, describe what you need, and write a sentence, you can use AI. If you can train an employee to do a task, you can direct an AI to do one.
Look at it from the perspective that AI isn’t here to replace you. It’s here to make you better, to help you learn, to handle the repetitive busy work, so you can focus on the real priorities and what really matters.
Don’t let your employer replace you because you won’t use AI. Take advantage of AI to make YOU better, more efficient, and valuable to the company.
Learning AI is like learning anything. You start one step at a time.
Leave Your Age at the Door and Go for It
How do we leave our age at the door and say, to hell with it, I’m going for it?
We do it by doing. By trying. By starting. By learning.
Start with a few educational YouTube videos. It’s a great place to begin because you can’t fail. No one’s watching or judging. Get familiar with the language if learning AI. Look up the words and concepts you don’t understand. Most of the time, it’s just fancy terms for basic ideas.
Instead of feeling like it’s over your head, write down the jargon that trips you up and keep the list by your computer until it clicks.
I know so many people who aren’t living up to their potential, stuck in menial jobs because they’ve convinced themselves they’re not smart enough or don’t have another choice. That’s not true.
A few years back, through no choice of my own, I was moved into a new role at work — one that pushed me way outside my comfort zone. I had no option but to step up if I wanted to keep my job. I felt panicked. I felt out of my league. In IT, it’s easy to feel like everyone else already knows what you don’t.
So I dove in headfirst, reading everything I could get my hands on. I was motivated, because feeling stupid is not something I enjoy.
Looking back, I’ve come a long way. One of the biggest takeaways is that I discovered that I can learn almost anything when I put my mind to it. That knowledge gives me real confidence. It took time, but I found a new comfort level in who I am and what I’m capable of.
Sometimes you just need a swift kick to wake up and discover what you’re made of.
What have you been avoiding because of your age? Tell me in the comments — I’d love to hear your story.