5 Steps to Loving Your 60s (even if you're dreading them!)

Are you bothered about turning 60? If you’re like many women “in the neighborhood” of 60, you are feeling apprehensive or concerned about being in your sixties. You might even be dreading it. Yep, some women just sail through 60 but many other aren’t feeling good about their future and don’t know what kind of future they would feel good about. If you want to live with joy, passion, and purpose at 60 and beyond here are five steps to help you move from dread to delight, from struggling with 60 to savoring your sixties. 1) Tune into Your Inner GPS. Did you know you had an internal GPS? What “lights you up” – what energizes and enlivens you – is your own wise, simple, easily accessible guidance system for your life. Paying attention to what lights you up (and what doesn’t) connects you with your inner GPS. That guidance system points the way to a life you will love, a life with energy, aliveness, vitality, passion, joy, and purpose. 2) Do More of What Lights You Up. Make a “Lights List” for yourself. Tune into your inner GPS as you do this. What lights you up? What energizes and enlivens you? What brings a smile to your face just thinking about it? Now do more of the things on your list more often. When you do more of what you love, you’ll find more joy in each day Well, duh! Isn’t this obvious? Yes, and it’s amazing how many of us are so focused on the busyness, the “shoulds,” and the routines of life that we forget about ourselves and what we want. 3) Face Your Fears If turning 60 or being in your 60s troubles you, you’ve likely got some fears about this time of your life. Take some time to identify your fears. Which ones can you do something about? Do what you can do. Which ones can’t you do anything about? Find ways to accept and make peace with what you can’t change or control. Remind yourself of what has helped you deal with life’s challenges in the past. Meditation? Exercise? Talking with trusted friends? Being in the present moment? Time in nature? Ways of quieting your Monkey Mind? Whatever life tools have helped you before, bring them out now and put them to work on your 60s challenges. 4) Create a vision for your life. You know you’re not ready for life to be over at 60. But what is your vision for your life in the next year or five years or 10 years? Take some quiet time by yourself to reflect on what you truly, deeply want in your life. Don’t worry about if or how it could happen. For now, assume anything is possible (which it just might be!) Ask yourself, “If I could wave a magic wand, what would I ask for in my life? What would I want my life to be like?” Again, pay attention to what lights you up, to your inner GPS as you do this. When you have a clear, compelling, energizing vision, it’s much easier to get excited about your future. 5) Take energizing steps in the direction of your vision. Now it’s time to begin taking action to bring your vision to life. Let your lights, your internal GPS guide you in choosing which actions to take. What lights you up? Where do you have some energy? What are you curious about? Take that step next. You don’t have to be miserable while you’re on the path to what you want. The steps toward your vision can be energizing and enlivening, not more draining tasks to do. Lights on actions immediately put more of what you love into your life. They create more energy to move you toward your vision. Plus they make the journey – and your life – more fun! Tune into your internal GPS. Do more of what you love. Face your fears. Create a vision for your life. Take energizing steps in the direction of your vision. These five steps can help you move from dreading your sixties to delighting in them, from struggling with 60 to savoring your sixties. Enjoy!