Life lessons
The other thing I’ve learned, or that surprised me, is that I’ve enjoyed my last few years more than any other years in my life. And that I’m actually in love—when I got married when I was younger, we weren’t really in love. We liked each other a lot, and we wanted to move out to California together, and she wanted to get away from her parents and we ended up being married. We had children, but we still weren’t really in love. Anyway, so the message I would bring is don’t just settle for something because you’re lonely or alone or something and you want to be with somebody. Find somebody you really connect with and want to be with and want to devote your love to. I found that in the last three years. So that’s like starting over.
•Don’t put limits on yourself. You may be surprised at what you can do. I have been.
•I have been. I’d say go for it. Don’t wait. I mean, don’t be stupid, but go for it. I wish that I felt when I was 25 the way I feel now. When you’re 25 you think, “Oh, I’ve got my whole life ahead of me,” so you wait. Go for it.
•If only you had the wisdom you have as an older person but then the body you had when you were 25.
•Soren Kierkegaard says you need to live life forward, but the only way you can figure it out is by looking backward.
•I would say follow your gut more and what society wants you to do less. More of what you feel is right for you, follow that instead of doing what you’re supposed to do like get married, have kids, make a living. All of those things are really good, but that’s all going to come into place if you follow your dreams. So finding joy in following that instead of making the whole thing a job because life isn’t a job, it’s living.
•What I thought I wanted at 25 was different than what I found I enjoyed at 65.
•I guess you don’t know yourself when you’re younger.
•You know yourself through the eyes of the people around you.
•You haven’t had enough experience to realize who you really are.
•I grew up really fast, and I think being grown up is overrated.
•Being a child again, when you have grandchildren, is wonderful.