Today Is the Best Time to Start

More than fifty years ago I was enrolled in the Counselor Education program at USC. To gain practical experience, we were expected to provide counseling services to members of the community on a volunteer basis.

That is how I met Sally. She was one of the clients to whom I was providing therapy.

Sally, at the age of 45, wanted to go back to school to earn a Master’s degree as a clinical psychologist. The problem was, she had never earned her bachelor’s degree.

Now some people might have been daunted by that obstacle.  It’s hard to start over at the beginning when you are approaching an age when most people are well into their careers. But not Sally. She successfully completed her bachelor’s degree, and then and went on to complete her M.S. degree. I caught up with Sally just as she was graduating. And yet, while she had achieved her goal of getting her M.S. degree, her challenges weren’t over. Full time jobs were scarce for a fifty-five-year-old. But, Sally worked diligently and with the same determination she had shown in getting her bachelor and M.S. degrees. In her search for a job, she sent out a thousand resumes. In the end, she was hired as the director of the mental health clinic of a small town in Kansas.

I learned a very important lesson from Sally.  No matter your age, or where you are in life, it is always a good time to begin. Didn’t the famed painter Grandma Moses begin her serious art career at age 78? (This was after her hands had become too arthritic to continue to do fine needlework.)

So if there is something you’ve always wanted to do, or if there are any important items still on your bucket list — why not start planning right now? A trip to Tibet, anyone? You can begin by looking up Tibet on Wikipedia. As the proverb goes, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

I’m writing this blog on Monday morning and already have three telephone calls I need to answer, so for now you’re on your own. I’ll leave you to plan your next successful life adventure. Then all you have to do is take the first step.

Philadelphia, anyone?

Alan