In this issue, Linda Brown reveals some trials and tribulations of traveling around the world accompanied only by her backpack. For Linda, it’s just another day in the life of a spunky mature woman doing what she is determined to do.
The thing is — Linda is seventy-five. How many 75-year-olds are so gutsy? I think it’s safe to say many 75-year-olds would not do anything more daring than go on a guided tour accompanied by trusted friends. Tradition and the culture whisper into the collective ear of mature women: Be careful, you are not as young as you used to be (and therefore, not as competent). Be afraid; don’t trust yourself; Be careful, you might hurt yourself; Be careful, you may be taken advantage of; Be careful, you are not as sharp and aware as you used to be.
Be careful, be careful, be careful. Yes, it’s always wise to “be careful” but are you more careful than you need to be? Does culturally induced fear keep you from doing things you know you are capable of doing but don’t do because the culture and tradition tell you that perhaps, just perhaps, “at your age” you should not or can’t do it?
Irrational fear has a “partner in crime” and its name “chronological age awareness.” If you ignored these two felons, how would you be living your life? If you are in good health mentally and physically, and not influenced by the mindset and lifestyle of the traditional retired culture, and if you didn’t know your age, chances are you would live far more abundantly and be far less fearful.
Linda Brown knows how old she is, but because she has a “so what” attitude about the number of years she has lived, and refuses to be held back by unreasonable fear, she lives a lifestyle many women would envy.
But envy and fear are a waste of time and make you look and feel old. Don’t envy gutsy women who refuse to heed illogical culturally perpetuated admonitions to “be careful”. Be a gutsy woman who acknowledges chronological age but refuses to be cowed by awareness of it. Adopt a “so what” attitude and dig deep for fearless determination to ignore “be careful” thinking that deters you from living the way you would like to live and could live. #
Linda,you are great. Keep it up.