Dare to Dream Again

Belief changes everything, even when this world tells you you’re too late.
If you’re 50+ do you ever feel like big changes come with bigger risks? It seems like there’s more at stake the older we get. One month until 50 for me, which means less time for “do-overs.” There’s no time to spin our wheels.

Trucking Into the Future

Each day an average of 11,200 Americans turn 65. Transported by time that keeps trucking into the future, Americans are marked by age as retirees.

Oftentimes, society tells older Americans in the prime of midlife to pump the brakes, slow down and enjoy a pleasurable life. After all, we’ve earned it. We’ve worked hard. We’ve tried to help others, and now it’s our time. Just fade into the background and consume comfortably, whispers society.

But, it’s a seductive lie. Once you buy in, you realize something is off. The promise of a pleasurable retirement draws many. This is what I call a Second Hand Society [S.H.S.] because it’s a hand-written script for us, but not by us. This not-so-secret society was penned by a calculating hand with a death grip. It was written by a presumptuous pen.

The idea of retirement as panacea was drawn up by marketers in the 1950’s. Retirement was a concept invented by marketing when people had good pensions and money to spend. Society has since shifted.

In his book The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny, Bradley Schurman wrote:

In a Second Hand Society [S.H.S.] snow crunches gently beneath your feet as you trudge around the community. Upon closer inspection and reflection, you realize that there’s no one outside. The sun has set and the sight of your breath is all that’s left. You can’t feel your toes. Your beckoned inside and the door closes behind you. Inside there’s always time for lounging in front of entertaining stories that limit our own. We can be made to feel invisible and irrelevant. People past our prime.

But, if we quietly retreat from life, we rob others of seeing and hearing the richness of our life stories.

“Scratching the Itch” to Be REMEMBERED

My friend Jeff Jackson at Your Family Vine in Escondido, CA is hoping to ensure loved ones are remembered. Want to “Scratch the Itch to be remembered? Get the Lasting Significance guide and leave a lifestory that lasts for loved ones by creating an audio recording for yourself or a loved one.

However, back at Second Hand Society, a cold calculating hand of the S.H.S. marketing minions scratches out scripts behind the scenes. Ageist stories that frame older Americans as helpless and senile. Remember the infamous “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” ads? Or maybe like me, you’ve even chuckled at senile old women chasing after beef in a car, without acknowledging the ageism? Worse still a superbowl ad had a repeating stanza singing “I’m 85 and I want to go home” with mocking older Americans doing honorable work. Where’s the respect? Where’s the dignity? Where’s the honor?

Those ageist stories were amplified in the name of selling more products. Does anyone see something wickedly cold here? It’s like C.S. Lewis’s character Tumnus said about a Narnia winter in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, “Always winter and never Christmas.” The cold kills courage.

Trusting the One Who Goes Before Us

My pastor preached from the bible story of Joshua recently and said, “Courage is about trusting the one that goes before us. Belief indeed changes things.

Yet, retirement for pleasure sake can trap us. Gutting healthy aging and our future dreams in one fell swoop. All of this happens at the the stroke of a pen in a “Second Hand Society.” After a while, you are no longer walking in the snow, you’re stuck inside laying low, like a rodent.

Second Hand Lemmings

Breaking free of S.H.S. to step outside is not easy. The winds of society seem to howl the moment you step outside in belief. Facing change through belief can feel a bit like a second hand lemming living in the Arctic.

Everything within you is screaming to go back inside where it’s warm. But, just when you stand up and say, “I’m gonna dare to dream again,” a blizzard of backlash pushes you back inside.

Lemmings are small rodents with short and stumpy everything, but the one thing they have going for them is their thick fur. Maybe those yellow teeth help a little too. But it’s their furry coat that keeps them moving in cold places. They believe that they won’t turn into a furry popsicle when they come outside.

I’ve noticed a shift away from this traditional picture of aging. A shift that calls older Americans to stand up, come outside and walk by faith. Whether or not we have a solid financial plan in place or a few enjoyable hobbies to kick around, a shift is happening. We’re moving.

Americans are handing back the brochures to the faithless writer. We’re turning off ageist rhetoric because there is no life there. We refuse to be corralled by age related changes.

Successful Startups in Committed Community

In the future, will we see a movement of men and women seeking the freedom to start and grow their own businesses in committed community?

Spurred on by freedom over time, initiatives and finances, means skipping the tune of mainstream messaging. Instead, we’re compelled by a greater purpose because belief doesn’t wait until everything is perfect.

Americans over 50 are continuing to live a lifestyle of purpose through belief. We’re pursing mastery over things that matter, like starting our dream businesses.

Our faith has caused us to trust again and led us out of selfish pleasure. We will trust again until the wheels come off and better ones are bestowed.

Those who dare to dream realize that committed community is essential for belief to grow.

Friends I Trust aspires to be a committed community that values:

• trustworthiness over insincerity,

• community over selfish competition,

• growth following the one who laid down his life for his friends

  
  Listen in to the F.I.T. Future podcast as we grow in community!

Wayne