The Best is Yet to Be!

Wow, a month and a bit has slipped by since I have written a blogpost. A friend pointed this out, and as I reflected upon why I haven’t written recently, I realized that the move out of my expressive arts studio on June 30 really took it out of me. Not the actual move, but the sorting through everything that had accumulated there after 14 years of working in the space. There were so many cards to read again, a lot of pieces of art to look at and decide if I wanted to keep them or give them away, so many notes to review from so many courses taken during that time frame, or given to others in the studio. After the move I crashed for a week of rest, and last week was a vacation week with family.

Now, it’s time to look around and think about what’s next. A friend sent me an intriguing question today. She said that one of her contacts had stated, “Our best years are behind us now.” My friend asked, “Do you think they are?” My immediate inner response was, “No way!!” I thought of Robert Browning’s quote: “Grow old with me, the best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made.” How can it be that the last of life may be the best?

Thinking of today, it has been wonderful to email back and forth with my friend about this question. I took a long afternoon nap. I mused with another friend by email about a course I would like to offer this fall or winter about writing ethical wills. My partner and I worked on our front porch- washing it and applying a coat of stain to freshen it up. We will barbeque later and go for a long walk down at the beach.

I think it’s the freedom to choose how our days go, as we grow older, that most contributes to happiness for me. I love the luxury of afternoon naps, long phone calls with good friends, and the opportunity to go for a long walk, or a swim whenever I want to. I still want to volunteer at my local library, offer life coaching and workshops and Nia classes, but I get to set my own schedule. More often I can live according to what I truly want to do, and I can make plans on the spur of the moment that fit with that. I know it’s summer and we just got released from many of the COVID restrictions we have been living under, but I do think that freedom to choose my days will continue to be pretty thrilling. I read a study that showed that people’s happiness often is a U shaped curve over the course of their lives. High levels of happiness tend to occur early in life and late in life. Now isn’t that something to enjoy now, and look forward to later?

Happy Summer to all!