It takes courage to juggle. “As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to see life as a game of juggling—except instead of balls, it’s responsibilities, relationships, and personal growth,” says Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy. This quote seemed particularly relevant during a recent conversation I had with some alumni of Modern Elder Academy. One woman, Cynthia Starz, made a statement and asked a question of the group: “The stage of life after retirement takes a lot of courage. Do you have enough courage to get through it successfully?”
Since I could not stop thinking about her question, I set up a time to talk with Starz in-depth about courage. We had a conversation worth sharing.
If we are going to do what we hoped to do when we retired, we need to do it now because we have a shorter runway. But there are challenges to following our dreams and the through line tends to be a difference of expectations.
Starz says, “Boomers have a history of living out loud and not being quiet about what we want from life.” She continued, “Boomers often led the trends that were happening. We were protesting and as retirees we have more time to protest. We often say, ‘We are not going to live a retired life as our parents’ did.’ But it takes courage to live the life we have desired for so long.” These challenges assume your health is well enough to live your life as planned.