Leanne Blaney is a master coach. She helps people create more fun, passion, and meaning while living a balanced life. Leanne’s training runs deep; she’s a certified Jack Canfield Success Principles trainer, DISC consultant, Coaching Guild Associate Member, and Coaching Institute Meta Dynamics /Advanced Practitioner.
So, when my friend Mary Wu suggested that we connect, I was thrilled. I love connecting with people who live with passion and it was easy to see that Leanne lived a “Bucket List” life. In fact, she’s a certified Bucket List coach!
Leanne and I jumped on her podcast and talked about passion in depth.
You can catch the episode via audio below or the transcript here:
[09:05] Leanne: That is awesome, I love it. I love how you have found that way of doing something using someone as a role model too because it is something that I’m very aware of through my Bucket Listing workshops so people are just living groundhog day aren’t they just over and over and they’ve lost their passion for life, so I am loving your story thank you so much for sharing. [09:28] Karen: It is so true, isn’t it? we get to midlife and we think you know oh my gosh this is it and it is so not true and when you find a role model it just opens up the world to you. But I also tell people, if you can’t find a role model you might have to be the role model that leads the way. [09:52] Leanne: Exactly and it’s great to have role models out there doing things and people of all abilities doing things that they love because we don’t want to just say oh something happened to me and then hide ourselves away it is so important to keep living because we only have this short lifetime so we need to have something that we are passionate about, don’t we?
I met John O’Leary when I stopped by to visit comedian Kathy Buckley in Los Angeles.
Just like Kathy, John had a wonderfully vibrant energy. It took a few minutes for me to realize that he was missing a couple of fingers on his hands.
At the age of nine, John went into the garage to look for a can of gasoline. He wanted to try a trick that he saw some teens do: pour a strip of gas on the ground and light it on fire.
Being a young kid, he didn’t quite understand the process. When John lit the match, he created a fireball instead.
Burned on 100% of his body, John wasn’t expected to live.
But he did.
And today, he travels the world sharing his wisdom and helping people to live “on fire.”
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with John and in our interview he shares how we can create our own “Ignition Statement” to ignite our own passion and purpose:
In the interview, John shares:
Why he still becomes nervous before taking the stage to talk to people and how he harnesses that energy in the right direction.
Why he would go through being burned all over again.
How his mother taught him resiliency when he came home from the hospital.
What passion means and how to harness it.
As John says, ” You can’t always choose the path you walk in life, but you can always choose the manner in which you walk.”
Learn more about John O’Leary and receive a spark of inspiration here: John O’Leary Inspires.
Karen Putz is known as “The Passion Mentor.” She helps people unwrap their passion at ANY age and turn an ordinary life into an extraordinary one. Karen is the author of multiple books, including, Unwrapping Your Passion, Creating the Life You Truly Want.
Today’s post is a special one–it is from my friend, Kim Mettache. Kim and I met years ago through the Association of Late-Deafened Adults. Here, Kim shares her story of how she tapped into the energy of passion after the age of 50. I’ve had the pleasure of watching her grow by leaps and bounds. Kim tests the boundaries of passion on a daily basis!
A few years ago, I was browsing Facebook and I came across a posting from Karen Putz. She mentions how she found her passion in life again. In barefoot skiing of all things! I couldn’t stop thinking about that post. Could I find a passion of my own like Karen had, even at 50? There had to be something I could do…maybe not barefoot skiing, but something I could call my own passion. (I couldn’t be a copycat, and I didn’t even have access to a speed boat anyways).
I wanted to celebrate turning 50 with something BIG! I had been running for a while – 5Ks, 10Ks, some half marathons here and there, but nope, running was NOT my passion. I hated running. I couldn’t figure out what was missing. I thought back to my past. I used to be a swimmer back in high school. I decided to look up triathlons. I figured I could try it–I could swim, I’ve improved my running, and I’ve been on a bike or two.
I signed up with a local triathlete group and hit the ground running…literally. Training started immediately and I was in the newcomers group. There were swimming lessons, biking sessions, and running sessions. My first day of swimming lessons, my coach put me in the first lane. Not the dreaded first lane! That’s where they put the slow pokes or those who cannot swim well. Me, a high school varsity swimmer, in the slow lane?
I was offended.
Very quickly, the coach realized that I could swim and moved me into the faster lane. That was better!
On the first day of bike riding, the coach said that we would be riding twelve miles. I thought I was going to DIE. Twelve miles!? I had never biked that far.
Over time, riding became easier. I started to enjoy the training sessions. I completed my first triathlon in April 2014, a whole two months before my 50th birthday. I achieved my goal! I could proudly say I was a triathlete!
Since that first triathlon, I’ve done 17 triathlons. My passion was infectious–I even got Karen interested in trying a triathlon! I was there to witness her first triathlon at the Espirit de She in Naperville.
I have started to break away from triathlons, and moving more into long distance bike riding with 2 different riding clubs. Our average ride is 25 to 35 miles. I have done a few charity rides, where we do 100 miles, or just 62 miles.
In December of 2017, someone asked me if I knew of someone in my neighborhood who would be interested in running for Town Council. I told him I would get back to him soon if I thought of anyone.
I couldn’t think of anyone.
I sent him a message, saying that no, I couldn’t think of anyone, but I thought I would offer up my own name. I asked him if I would be a good candidate and he immediately said “YES”! The only requirements were two: be a resident of the ward and have voted in the last election. Thank goodness, I take my right to vote seriously, having voted in every primary and general election.
After a conversation with the chairman of the political party, I checked just to make sure that she was aware that I was deaf. I wanted to make sure it would be no problem to be a deaf candidate.
“Absolutely not, you would be a ground-breaking individual,” she responded.
I was so relieved–finally it didn’t matter if I could hear or not! I showed up at a political meeting on Monday to get signed up, making my candidacy official. The Director for the Board of Elections came by and notarized my papers, I had officially thrown my hat into the voting ring–I was really running for office! I couldn’t have been happier, I may have cried tears of joy! The next day at the Lake County Courthouse, my name was up on a board with all the other candidates running. This was really happening. Kim Mettache for Town of Dyer Council Ward 4!
Since that day, I also was asked to run for Precinct Committee Person and delegate. I said, why not? In May, I was on the ballot THREE times! It was so awesome to see my name in print among those running for Senator and State Representatives! I did win my Precinct seat 75 percent to 25 percent of the votes! I won one of two seats for delegate out of four people running. Winning delegate gave me the opportunity to attend the State Convention in Indianapolis in June. I requested real-time captioning for my access needs and it was approved. Captioning at the convention was provided for the first time ever!
People do ask how it all starts? Grassroots, from the bottom up. My passion for serving goes back a few years. I was one of the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities Graduates, Class of 2007. Our homework assignments required political volunteering hours. I volunteered at the polling place at the General election, campaigning for a Town Council board member. I also worked as a clerk at the polls at the Primary. We toured the State House in Indianapolis, where we sat in the Senate and House of Representatives chambers. We learned to advocate for our disability in this class. This year, I’m now campaigning for myself for Town Council. I also help other candidates with canvassing. We go door to door and give out candidate material and ask them to vote for us in November! Anyone can help with a campaign, and/or run for office!
I am so thankful to Karen, for opening my eyes to my passions! Now it’s your turn–tap into YOUR gifts!
Stephanie Palmer came home from work one day and told her husband Jim, “We need an adventure.”
Stephanie, who worked in early childhood education for 25 years, was getting ready to retire and partner with Jim in his coaching business, Dream Business Coaching. With the business, they could work anywhere in the world as long as they had access to cell service and a solid internet connection.
After 28 years living in the same home, they were toying with idea of selling the house and doing something different–yet, they weren’t quite sure what “different” was going to be. They both enjoyed watching shows on HGTV that showed beautiful places to live and they considered moving to the Caribbean.
Then one day, Stephanie had an idea.
“Why don’t we live on a boat?”
Stephanie and Jim always enjoyed their outings at sea on their 30-foot Sea Ray. Every time they went out on the water, stress melted away and they came off the boat renewed and re-energized. The more they thought about it, the more the idea of living on the water appealed to them.
When Stephanie and Jim presented the idea to their four children, they received positive feedback and support. Stephanie recalls how it all unfolded:
For the past few years Jim had felt ‘finished’ with the house we were living in. It was the house where we’d lived for the past 28 years and raised our children. I was torn. We had kept it up and done some remodeling and an addition that I was enjoying. I also liked to think of it as a place where the family came together for holidays, where our grandchildren could play in the beautiful yard where their parents had played years before. Finally, I didn’t have any idea where I wanted to move to next.
I had worked in early childhood education for over 25 years and I was feeling ready to move on. Truth be told, I was burnt out and didn’t enjoy the work anymore. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, as far as work but one day it just hit me – I needed a big adventure! Not sure what that was, what it looked like, but I had a feeling. Together Jim and I batted around a bunch of ideas. I knew how much Jim loved boating and I had a desire to travel, so I threw out the idea of living aboard a boat. Jim LOVED it!!!
I was a bit uncomfortable with telling other people about this home we chose. I have been a person that feels the need to do what is acceptable and expected. Our children were the first people we informed of this idea. They were so excited about it! It is truly their excitement and encouragement that has kept me moving forward.
We spent about a year preparing for the change. I gave notice at work. I began to pack up the contents of our home deciding what to throw out, donate or put in storage. We prepared the house for sale. Jim searched boats for sale. Over the year, Jim and I were amazed at how smoothly everything went. We felt God’s hand at work, guiding us.
As I write this we have been living aboard the boat for 3 months. I can’t believe how much I love it! Life is simple, comfortable and easy. We feel like we are on vacation all the time. For now we have an 18 month plan, this summer in New England, the winter in Florida and then the next summer back on the Chesapeake, our home port. We are considering spending more time living on the boat and traveling either the Great Loop or to the Bahamas. But what we are both content with is making decisions as needed, we don’t have everything planned out to the nth degree, we are just going with the flow.
Stephanie and Jim’s new home is a 50-foot Carver yacht. In the beginning, they had to learn everything they could about navigating a large craft themselves. They were nervous, excited, and a bit scared at taking on such a big adventure, but Jim knew that from his own coaching practice, the most growth occurs when you step out of your comfort zone.
“Stephanie and I, we couldn’t run the boat ourselves, its a lot of teamwork,” Jim said. “Pulling in and out of the marina is a two person job. When we left the coast of New Jersey going into New York and we saw the Statue of Liberty, we got chills. We had spent an hour in choppy water and we were pushed out of our comfort zone in a way that we had not been pushed out of for several years.”
I asked Jim to share the challenges they faced. “Challenges? You mean other than today, yesterday, and the day before??” Jim chuckled. “There are definitely times of challenge. When you try to do something new– live on a boat, start a business, you sometimes become excited about doing something fun and different, then the other side of your brain says, ‘what if, what if,’ what if I can’t park it, or hit someone, or run out of gas or I can’t run my business…
“A lot of people don’t do big things because they’re unsure of what will happen,” Jim continued. “If you are thinking about doing something big–go for it. Life can be shorter than you want it to be. If you have an adventure in mind–your mind will play the “what if” game, but go for it. People near death regret the things they didn’t do–time ran out on them. Stephanie and I didn’t want to get to the end of our lives with regret, so for better or worse, we are doing it.”
During one of the first trips on a river, the very thing that Stephanie and Jim worried about, happened. They ran aground in shallow water, right in front of a marina, with people on the dock watching. Jim turned to Stephanie and he laughed. “We hit the ground. Check it off the list. No one got hurt–there ya go!”
What’s more, Jim explained, there are two types of people, those who run aground, and those…who lie about it.
Jim and Stephanie work three days a week on their business and use the other four days to explore new places and things. As a business coach, Jim applies one of Zig Ziglar’s famous quotes to his business: You can get everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. Jim is all about helping others create successful dream businesses. “Passion is something that lights you up and gets you up out of bed earlier–you will work a little harder–that’s what passion does. I don’t live for the weekend. Here, every day feels like a vacation.”
And every day on the water, Stephanie and Jim are grateful to see both the sunrise and sunset. Success means being able to live life on your own terms, Jim says.
“Success doesn’t have to do with how much money you earn. It’s about living life the way you want to live. You’re not wanting for anything–you’re content. You can make your own choices. That’s an internal level of success that people are striving for. The ultimate thing is to have time freedom–and live life on your own terms.”
Do you dread Mondays? Are you dragging yourself out of bed to go to work?
You’re not alone. Dan Miller from 48days.com shared a startling statistic: 84% of American Workers say they would like to change jobs in the coming year.
Either we have a lot of upwardly mobile people or there’s just a lot of people unhappy or dissatisfied with their jobs.
That was me a couple of years ago.
I was fortunate. I met Dan Miller and his wife, Joanne in 2011. At the time, I was deep into reading two of Dan’s books, No More Dreaded Mondays and 48 Days to the Work You Love. I had a job I loved, but I was losing my passion for it day by day. I was deep into Dan’s books while on a train heading to a speaking gig. I came across this paragraph:
As Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Ask yourself: What is the world hungering for right now? How can I use my unique skills and talents to satisfy that hunger? Don’t rest until you find that answer.
I started filling up spiral bound notebooks with ideas, thoughts, desires, and more. By the end of the train ride back home, I wrote my first book, and have continued to use that paragraph above to bring clarity to my daily life.
I took Dan’s Coaching with Excellence Workshop (highly recommended if you want to add coaching to your services or become a coach or his Innovate workshop if you are a creative) and it was there that I met Dan and Joanne for the first time.
Dan is known for his 48 Days podcast, community, and coaching services. He specializes in helping people discover and understand their natural skills and abilities and turn those into profit. His newsletter goes out to over 130,000 people and his podcast is among the top five for careers.
When it comes to living with passion, Dan and Joanne are a beautiful example of what it means to enjoy life and live it fully. They have instilled those lessons in their children and grandchildren.
Joanne’s passion is art, and she did not unwrap that passion until long after she was done raising her children. Today, she hosts a weekly art class at The Sanctuary near Nashville and she’s the author of several books, including Creating a Haven of Peace When You’re Feeling Down, Finances are Flat, and Tempers are Rising. She inspires other women in midlife to learn new things and dig in deep to discover their own gifts.
I always recommend Dan’s events–I am still connected with people that I met at my first event there. Each event is limited to no more than 50 people, so it’s a wonderful chance to get to know others and build relationships. Plus, you get to learn from just about the whole Miller family as well! Check out Dan’s resources and events here:
“So, what do you do for fun?” I asked Brenda Schmidt between bites of dinner. We were on our way to see Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy at the Rialto Theater in Joliet.
“My husband and I hunt ghosts for fun.”
I nearly dropped my fork. Not because I had the reaction that most people do about ghosts–the “let’s not talk about uncomfortable topics” squirm, but because it was a subject I had lived with for many years.
Back in 1977, my parents bought two cottages on Christie Lake in Michigan. Mike, the next door neighbor, told us some stories about the previous occupants, including the original owner, Mr. Eberhart, who died at the end of the pier during a storm.
For many years, I felt Mr. Eberhart’s spirit in the tiny bedroom that I shared with my sister.
When my parents moved the house (literally) across town and built their retirement home on the same spot, Mr. Eberhart settled in. For many years, we were busy with the kids. However, whenever I slept in the “Blue Room,” I felt like he was there.
One day, my father asked me if I believed in ghosts.
I told him yes. I told him I felt Mr. Eberhart’s spirit and that he never left. We compared our stories–the footsteps at night (Dad heard this) and the impossible-to-open closet doors that were left open in the middle of the night. My sister also experienced the open closet doors, so I knew I wasn’t imagining things.
We started sharing the stories with visitors and it made for lively conversations around the fire at night. Then our visitors began experiencing Mr. Eberhart’s antics. Whispers in the ear, “I’m still here,” flashing lights, disappearing items.
My mother never believed any of it. The ghost had a habit of turning on the radio in my boat and draining the battery. I replaced the battery, rewired the boat, and figured the problem was solved.
One evening, I took my mom out for a sunset ride in the boat. When we docked, I made sure she watched me turn off the radio, because my father accused the kids of leaving it on.
We were on the dock when out of the corner of my eye, I saw the radio light turn on.
“Mom, you saw me turn off the radio, right?”
She nodded.
“Well, take a look at the radio now.”
Her mouth dropped open.
Yet, she still didn’t believe in ghosts.
So when Brenda told me that her husband Paul was the president of The Illinois Paranomalists , I had to share the story. I gave them a copy of Totally Scared, which featured the story of the ghost at the lake house.
Could we prove the ghost theory?
Paul was intrigued. He stopped by my house to get a key and headed up to the lake house. He spent several hours there, setting up equipment and recording both audio and visual modes.
The results were pretty clear: the house was haunted. I was finally validated after all the years of sharing “ghost stories.”
I invited Paul to share his experiences:
I am extremely honored that Karen invited me to be a guest on her blog. The hardest thing has been deciding what to write.
Karen writes about finding and following your passion. I have a lifelong passion for the paranormal—resulting in my becoming a ghost hunter.
I grew up reading everything I could on ghosts: Bigfoot, the Bermuda triangle, Loch Ness monster, etc. I enjoyed the fact that there are still mysteries in the world. I dreamed of one day actually seeing one of these mysterious phenomena. Unfortunately, advances in technology have proven many of these supposed mysteries to be nonexistent or in some cases fabricated.
About 11 years ago I realized it was possible to pursue my interests in ghosts when the show “Ghosthunters” first appeared on the SyFy channel. Like many of my ghost hunting friends a light bulb went off and I realized people actually do this stuff.
I began researching and going on “pay to hunt” public hunts. I then joined a club and learned all I could. At the urging of my family I finally formed my own club with a group of friends—The Illinois Paranormalists (TIP). We all love to ghost hunt and have fun together. We’ve explored places like the Rialto Theatre in Joliet, The Eldred house, and the Goldenrod Showboat.
Karen and my wife Brenda are friends and during a dinner conversation my hobby came up. Karen’s family owned a home for many years that they thought was haunted but did not have proof. She invited me to investigate and I jumped at the chance to visit somewhere no one else had ever investigated. (BTW: you’d be surprised how many people tell me they live, work, or know of a haunted location.)
I brought my cameras and recorders and investigated into the night. While I was there, I had some very interesting personal experiences. To me the most interesting thing was actually how my body tingled for at least an hour when I was up in the bedroom that Karen identified as haunted. Karen says the spirit would say “I’m still here” to occasional visitors. I could not believe the reaction of my KII meter when I asked the question “are you still here”. Usually a few additional lights light up, but my meter went crazy with the lights going up and down in a blur. In 20/20 hindsight, I wish I had filmed it with my iPhone. The camera I had in the room was pointed too high to catch it. My recorders however captured a number of unexplained loud noises in the bedroom where the haunting appears to be centered.
Karen was happy to finally have some validation to the experiences she had while in the house over the years.
If you are interested or have more questions, my club has a webpage at www.ghosttip.com and a Facebook page. I want to thank Karen again for giving me this opportunity.
“There are opportunities all around us–we just have to notice them.”
When my daughter, Ren, decided to leave college to pursue an acting career, I was not exactly on board with the plan at first. The practical parent in me thought my daughter wasn’t being grateful for the opportunity to attend college with scholarships and she was throwing all of that away.
As a result of pursuing what she was totally passionate about, Ren landed a swing role in Broadway in Spring Awakening.
While she was performing at a nightclub, a Tony Award winning director watched her on stage. The director cast her, without an audition, in the New York City Center play, Runaways.
As I watched my daughter on stage, I thought about how one opportunity lead to another. Here she was, performing in front of nearly 3,000 people with a radiant smile on her face during the final bow.
The next day, Ren introduced us to Joshua De Jesus.
When Joshua tried out for Runaways, he was among a group of over 300 kids vying for a role. Just before his turn, the girl before him sang the same song he picked out and she did a stellar job.
Joshua did not get a call back.
He was crushed, but he so strongly felt he wanted to be a part of this play. Acting was his passion since he was a young boy.
When he left the room, he spied an audition form lying on a desk, filled it out, and confidently strolled into a room with a different group of scouts.
He got the part.
The lesson here…
Be passionately persistent! Don’t give up when there are obstacles in your path. Stay strong in the vision of what you want and stay open to the opportunities that show up.
I wasn’t looking forward to the years ahead. Aches. Pains. Wrinkles. Medicines. It seemed like everyone around me was slowing down and just going through the motions of each day, coasting until they could reach retirement. And for some, retirement simply meant they could watch their television programs anytime they wanted to.
So there I sat on my 44th birthday with tears running down my face, thinking that the best years of life had passed me by. I missed the carefree days of my youth spent gliding across the water on the soles of my feet. I had tried barefoot water skiing the day before my birthday, with dismal results. My feet, I reasoned, were truly hung up to dry.
Until an “Old Lady” changed my life.
My husband sent me a link to a TODAY Show segment featuring Judy Myers, a 66-year-old competitive barefoot water skier. I sat there and watched the TODAY Show over and over. The passion that I saw on Judy’s face reminded me of the feelings I had when I was a teen. I loved barefoot water skiing.
I got in touch with Judy and she invited me to Florida to learn how to barefoot water ski again. In the process, I gained a mentor and a friend. Judy taught me some great lessons that apply to life; lessons that I put together in a new book, Outside the Wake, How an “Old Lady” Taught Me to Live.
At the age of 44, I thought life was a downward slide of life becoming less and less, and I was afraid that the best years of life were behind me.
Judy taught me the opposite: the best years of life can be whatever you want them to be. You don’t have to accept growing older–you can choose to grow BOLDER instead.
Not the words I wanted to hear, but I shouldn’t have been too surprised. My daughter, Ren, had a love/hate relationship with formalized education since she was in elementary school. I can remember some days having to shove her out the car door to make her go to school.
(Yes, I was that kind of parent.)
“Okay, so what’s your plan?” I asked her.
She had her heart set on acting. She was going to come home after the semester ended and figure out a plan. She might move to New York City and live with her cousin. She might try and get a job in Los Angeles and live with a friend. She just knew she wasn’t going to go back to college. Acting school, maybe.
As a parent, I wrestled with a whole range of emotions.
The parent side of me screamed, “oh-my-gosh-she’s-gonna-have-a-tough-life-without-a-degree!”
The Passion Coach side of me calmly whispered, “let her have her journey, she’ll figure it out.”
My conversations with Ren showcased the whole range of those emotions and thoughts. During one conversation, I was calm and rational, even positive. During other conversations, I brought out the “play it safe” cards and the “get your degree first–after that you can do whatever you want” rationality. I think I said some not-so-nice things.
“How can you tell others to follow their passions if you won’t let your own daughter follow her heart?” she asked me.
Yes, she called me on it.
And she was right. I had to let go. This was her journey. Even if I pulled the parenting card and insisted she stay in college, I knew it would create the biggest thorn between us. She had been miserable with school since fourth grade and we had plenty of battles over it.
As the end of summer rolled around, the plan was still unclear. My daughter even had moments of self-doubt, of wondering what direction to go in next.
Then out of the blue, she found an audition for Spring Awakening on Broadway. Without a single bit of hesitation, she booked a flight.
When she called me on FaceTime to tell me that she acquired a swing role in the play, the joy on her face was crazy radiant. Within a month, she moved to New York City and began studying the lines for four different roles. It wasn’t an easy journey. She slept on a couch until she could find a place of her own. She had to learn the roles without much practice time on the stage.
After many, many weeks of sitting in the audience, the swing room, and backstage, Ren made her debut on stage in the role of Thea. I flew to New York and her older brother joined me. As we sat in the audience waiting for the play to begin, my heart was pounding for her. She was going to step on a Broadway stage for the first time.
I thought back to a lesson that Janet Attwood, author of The Passion Test, taught me. “Whenever you are faced with a decision, a choice, or an opportunity, always choose in favor of your passions.” And Ren had done just that. She chose passion.
I can’t even begin to describe the incredible feeling that bubbled inside of me as I watched Ren perform with Marlee Matlin, Camryn Manheim, Andy Mientus and the Spring Awakening cast. Perform doesn’t even seem to be the right word. She became Thea.
As the cast took their final bow, I thought back to the uncertainty Ren faced when she made the decision to walk away from the “safe” route to pursue something she was immensely passionate about. She didn’t have a plan. She didn’t know the “how.” But she was very, very clear on the what.
“I really like this house. I can see myself living here,” my mom said.
My mom, my sister, my daughter, and my niece were all crammed into a car for a winter-getaway trip to Florida. On the way down, we stopped to tour the model homes for sale at an adult-living community in Nashville. My mom and sister were tired of the long winters in Michigan and looking for a new place to live. The target was Florida and they were planning to rent a house there for three months.
Everything changed the minute we all walked into the house in Nashville. A few hours later, my mom and my sister made the decision to sell the lake house we’ve had since 1977 and move to a place where they knew no one.
Just like that.
The move turned out to be a rough one, with one challenge after another presenting itself. But at 87 years of age, after dealing with a lifetime of challenges, my mom simply buckled down and tackled them as they happened.
There were times my mom and sister questioned their decision, but overall, the move was the best thing for them both. Despite health challenges, my mom has been trying new things–such as learning yoga and zipping around the track with her walker.
When it comes to creating a passionate life, one of the most common complaints I come across is: “I’m too old.”
Are you really?
Check your pulse. If you still have a pulse, you still have a life. At any given time, you can change your thoughts, your attitude, your outlook, and your actions.
