70 Is the New 50 - How to Create an Enduring Legacy

Losing my wife Irene, who was truly my best friend, was the most painful experience in my life. We were everything together and she was my entire world. She became ill during the holiday break and after only four short months, she passed away in March 2010. It was as if a bombshell had exploded. I lost the love of my life in four short months. I felt empty and so alone, even numb not knowing what to do without her. It felt as though the world as I knew it had stopped or taken a holiday from reality. Reaching out at night, I found that the touch of her hand, the sound of her breath and her quiet manner were all missing. I was stuck on a motionless pathway, not able to see a future.

Everyone told me time was what I needed and all things would heal, allowing me to find my way again. But, emotional pain takes time, they all warned and I was in no hurry to put her in my memories because I needed and wanted her love close to me.

In time, I realized my family and friends were right. Time was my healer and getting involved with life helped me live again. I learned that even though the scars of her loss were deep, I was able to go on with new interest and decided my knowledge of a good life was one I could share to help others. I also wanted my life to pay tribute to a woman who loved life by doing my best for whatever time was left to have and use in my own life. After some time had passed, I found I was still able to find a way to live an extension of our rich lives together, making it a full, and meaningful life…If I can at my age, so can you.

For me, life had been full of happiness, love and security from the time of childhood and the love shown to me by my wife helped set the rest of life as it could be. It gave me the courage to move forward in life and provided me with the inspiration to help others with this book. Bonding with family, and finding my path in life, began early, while it provided my foundation to new journeys.

It is important to remember, while healing, you will feel many emotions and it is crucial to permit yourself the time and the feelings that will allow you to recall all that was essential to you. Realize that you will go through stages that may not make sense but are ways that enable you to eventually move forward on your journey of discovery. Give yourself whatever time it takes, as grief will not heal itself but can be a great teacher for what lies ahead.

Do what you’ve always dreamed of doing. After enough time has passed and you have moved on in any degree, allow a major change in your life to provide some excitement about life again. Now is the time to do it! Be anything you want to be. Become an artist, pilot or a scuba diver. Why not even take a ride in a hot air balloon?

But, more than anything, give it your best shot, pulling out all the stops to be happy and whole again. Do it for your own sake or in memory of the loved one you’ve lost, if you are unable to put yourself out there for YOU. Your dreams can become a reality and help fill the void in your life. You will meet new people and realize that life can be satisfying and exciting, even if you are alone.

I made a conscious decision to live my life as always, finding new worlds to explore. When you are ready, get involved again slowly, by being active in your community or becoming closer to other people. Helping others has been proven to reduce your stress while it increases feelings of social closeness. For me, I got involved in seminars, webinars, studied theories, followed those of successful importance, attending the Anthony Robbin’s four day course in London, called Unleash the Power Within, and I’ve even done his fire-walk. I studied and got involved with the stock market, the Landmark Forum and the Millionaire Mind, all of which helped me find a means to reach out to others while finding my way alone without my partner.

The Landmark Forum was designed to improve your life in only three short days. It helps bring you a positive quality of life, making permanent shifts in the way you live, and to focus within your life. The shifts are the reason, the cause for a new unique source for freedom and power in your life, which you may have never known before. You learn to have that freedom to be at ease, while having the power to be effective in making a huge difference in relationships, your enjoyment in life and confidence in which you live your life. Even your personal productivity and self-worth, are such that you can experience the difference you make in life for yourself and others.

Anthony Robbin’s four day course, Unleash the Power Within is an intense experience where you learn to overcome and control your fears, as well as how to turn your life into a positive, successful and powerful mental state that you can take complete control of forever! He discusses human needs such as certainty and uncertainty, roles in life with explanations of significance, love/connection, personal and business growth and the importance of getting in touch with your spirituality, which we will examine later with what effects it has on your life.

T. Harv Eker’s Millionaire Mind, courses are designed to help you re-condition or re-structure your mind so that you think like a millionaire. You learn the fundamentals of how to think and live with a successful mind through a fast track method process that exchanges the negatives for the positives in building habits and beliefs. Taking your journey needs a new beginning and this is why my book, 70 is the new 50, will provide you the insight on how to get started.

Finding mentors or your one role model who has achieved success at the highlight of their lives is a positive way to assist you in finding your own success story. Get into the role of thinking, dreaming and even acting out the attitude it takes to be successful. An example may be Ben Van Praagh. I realize he may not be a name you recognize, but most of us have a special love of animals, namely dogs. This example is about one such man who worked to help improve their overall healthy lives. When asked how he feels about self-employment, he comments, “Being a self-starting person, running your own business and being responsible for turnover and peoples’ wages isn’t an easy task and it isn’t for everybody.”

He began his first business career with a small engineering company in South-East London, which he founded when he was 19years old. He retired from all of his business careers in the year 2000, at the age of 60. However, he could not remain retired and at age 75, in March 2014, he launched another business due to his love of dogs! Benefit Natural is a health raw dog food product. He is quoted as saying particular business sprung from my passion for feeding dogs a healthy diet. This in turn leads to a healthier, happier dog, living longer. Prior to the second world war there were very few manufactured dog foods after the war a whole industry sprang up. It was done from waste, mostly from the grain mills. A dog’s digestive system can’t take grains, they are not naturally a grain eater.

He believes that anyone who loves their dog will feed him/her raw food to improve their digestion. Ben and his wife, when first married lived in the country and had dogs, which that they fed raw tripe. It was the passion he has for dogs that started this business; though, in his senior years, he proves age has nothing to do with the desire to be an entrepreneur. His company is worth 2 billion pounds (2.59 billion US dollars) per year in the UK with sales doubling month after month, with his son now joining the business. In another interview, he was asked if, at 75 he looked at business differently and replied, I am the same as when I was a young man, in business matters I am exactly the same. I work as many hours as I did, I take the same risks and I am as confident as ever. My lesson is, when you are screwing it up, get out. Cut your losses, don’t throw good money after bad. Don’t let your passion for the subject overrule your brain.

It goes to show you, with conviction anything is possible! It also demonstrates another example that 70 is the new 50.

Now, if you happen to already be a person who has reached their success in business and at this new age of 70s, you are wanting more, may I suggest you find another interest to conquer? We found several people, both male and female, who discovered a different path for their life, years after retirement. Canadian Ed Whitlock of Milton, Ontario, Canada, at 69 became the oldest person to run a standard marathon in under three hours! A Japanese gentleman, Katsusuke Yanagisawa, after years of teaching but while in retirement, still had life he wanted to experience, so at age 71, he became the oldest person to climb Mt. Everest. So you see, age has little to do with what has yet to be accomplished in your life, if you have the desire, guts, and willingness to keep working hard, with the passion to keep living.

Perhaps your passion for life awakened after a long struggle with devastating health but your thirst for succeeding in being the first black woman to reach the North Pole was a driving force within you. In 2007, Barbara Hillary, at age 75, was not only the first black woman but the oldest to succeed with her goal!

Do you hunger for an out-of-the-universe journey? John Glenn became the oldest person to travel into space, at age 77!

My book, 70 is the new 50, will take you on a journey where you will learn anything is...