I’m over birthday parties, but I still love my birthday. It reminds me that I made it another year! And at 66, I am celebrating life, happy to be here, and still learning.
Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift. – Aretha Franklin
I’m 66 this year…not a youngster any more. And I can look back over the past decades and see where I made good decisions, as well as bad decisions. It’s an interesting perspective once you get here. And there’s no one to blame for where you are today, except yourself. It took me awhile to learn that. It’s so much easier to be the victim. But the good news, I figured it out and I am still learning.
I love Betty White’s comment:
Don’t try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won’t live long enough to find out about, but I’m still curious about them. You know people who are already saying, “I’m going to be 30- oh, what am I going to do?” Well, use that decade! Use them all!
We tend to forget that life is a continuous play of new content. Every day is different. Every day has something we can learn from, or learn about, or just learn. Once we accept that we are in charge of our own lives, we can move forward and continue to grow. As long as we are stuck in victim-mode, we won’t learn anything.
Let’s not waste these days (or decades); let’s accept reality, open our minds, and stay interested in stuff. Don’t blame others. Don’t watch the same movies over and over again (unless you’re sick and in a stupor and need to). Don’t tuck yourself into your couch and never leave. Try something new…read a new book, watch a new documentary, learn something new!
As Da Vinci said,
Learning never exhausts the mind.
Whether in your profession, your home, your education, your faith, your recovery, your health, your activities….you can still learn. Never stop learning. It’s the most important thing you can do in life. You can do it alone or with others. But only YOU can do it. And it’s the ONLY thing you will take with you when you leave this world.
Never stop learning. I won’t. Happy 66th to me!
An unintentional leader, influencer, and socialpreneur, Jean Krisle intentionally founded and continues to lead 10,000 Beds, a 501c3 nonprofit organization now in its 7th year of operation. Building from a desire to support the many individuals without resources seeking help for a substance use disorder, Jean built 10,000 Beds from a simple idea to a nationwide, life-changing and inspirational force in the addiction & recovery community with more than $10,000,000 in addiction treatment scholarships awarded nationwide.
As an admired speaker, coach, and consultant, Jean speaks from decades of personal experience on the critical strengths of courage, hope, and resilience in business and personal lives. Jean motivates us to face each day with courage, tenacity, hope, and resiliency. She inspires all of us to recognize the strengths we’ve gained through the challenges we’ve faced.
Jean passionately reminds us that we are all in recovery from something and that recovery from anything- loss, failure, disappointment, addictions, etc. – is something we should build on and be proud of! And she teaches us how to do it! For more information about Jean’s availability please contact her via email at jean@10000beds.org.