“I feel trapped at the bottom of a deep hole, with a rock over my head. I try to move the rock, but it’s heavy and hard to budge. When I do manage to wriggle past it, the walls are so slippery there’s nothing to grab onto to pull myself up. So I keep sliding back. Strangely there’s some comfort being stuck in the hole. It feels familiar and numbing. Yet a voice deep inside me says, “It’s now or never.”

This is how a client recently described herself. She is approaching 65 and on the brink of a major life transition. Divorced, with grown children, she finally feels free to answer some compelling questions:

• Does she retire or start a new venture she’s been dreaming about for the last twenty years?
• Dare she sell her home in the city and move to a quieter place surrounded by nature?
• Will she have the energy to sustain her through this transition?
• And, can she trust that if she really listens to the soul’s calling, everything will work out?

Do you ever feel like this? Though everything on the surface appears to be going okay, underneath, there is a sense of dissatisfaction, a gnawing sense that this isn’t really it. Even if you earn a decent living, feel good about how you’re supporting your family and your community, do you hear a quietly desperate voice whispering “What about me?”

Some of my clients who are rock stars in their business privately tell me that their success means nothing to them. They’d give anything to quit their job, sell their home, buy an RV and travel around the country with their spouse – or purchase an open airline ticket to travel around the world. Even if they are single, and have no familial obligations, the thought of going for what they truly want terrifies them.

Do you believe that if you stay with what you know, you will have the comfort of knowing what’s next? Life may be predictable, boring, and a bit deadening, but it can feel safe. Here’s the thing – even when you choose not to change, life has a way of waking you up out of your slumber!

That often happens in our 50’s or 60’s. By now, you’ve probably lost someone close to you, perhaps a parent. Suddenly you’re confronted with the reality that you’re the next generation in line to die. Your time on the planet is limited. Maybe your health is faltering; you can’t keep up the pace that you used to, and you feel exhausted. You may find yourself thinking you’re getting old, or resenting others for seeing you as an ‘old’ person.

This is a crucial time to excavate what you deeply desire – and give that to yourself!

If you DON’T choose to be super honest about who you are and what you want, you may feel stuck in your life. Staying stuck will age you. If you DO start to go for what you want, I can guarantee that life will respond in ways you can’t possibly imagine. You will reignite the vitality that is your birthright, and you will look and feel younger!

Here’s my invitation to you:

Ask yourself, “If I had no fear of failing, what is that one thing I’d do before I die?”