I don't know, but at almost 51 years, I'm still thinking about it. I'm weighing options, thinking about the future, and making myself believe that change is still possible. I don't want to die stuck in a rut, which is where I feel I am now. My primary reason for having the job I have now is to provide for my family, but is that all there is?
In most cases, the answer is: yes, that's all there is. Fulfillment, meaning and a sense of accomplishment and success are not things that are guaranteed from our work. That's a shame, too. The fact that we spend so many hours in one place, yet that it cannot mean more than money, is too bad. Yet as these things cannot be guaranteed, they are not totally out of reach.
I'm not necessarily an optimist. I've always seen myself as a realist, which I figure lies in the middle of pessimist and optimist. It means I sometimes give up when the optimist would still be plugging away, but it also means I'm sometimes hard at it when the pessimist is curled up on his couch.
So how do you accomplish great things late in life? Experiencing the best that life has to offer sometimes means leaning way out to grab something, risking a fall from the safety of your perch. Risk. That's the key. Taking risks.
Risk is something that many of us cannot afford when reaching for our dreams. For some of us, too many people depend on us. If I quit my job right now to pursue something else, then my family would suffer along with me. Bills wouldn't get paid. Food wouldn't be on the table. Dreams that cost that much are probably mostly pipe dreams. I need to live in the real world. Living in the real world, I don't feel cheated out of my dreams, but I do often find myself looking into the distance, longing for that far, green country.
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