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It’s Not Too Late, But You’ve Got to Go All In
Principle #1
“There’s only one age: Alive”
— Agnès Varda
My favourite story in Big Magic, the creativity bible written by Elizabeth Gilbert, is one about Winifred, a 90-year-old who ten years earlier had begun studying the history of ancient Mesopotamia, going to the Middle East on several archaeological digs, learning cuneiform script, befriending the greatest scholars and curators on the subject, never missing a related museum exhibit or lecture when it came to town.
“For me, at the age of twenty-five, to hear a ninety-year-old widow speak of having her life changed by passion (and so recently!) was a revelation. (…) But as I learned more about Winifred´s passion, what struck me most was that she was now an acknowledged expert in the history of ancient Mesopotamia. She had given that field of study an entire decade of her life, after all –and if you devote yourself to anything diligently for ten years, that will make you an expert.”
— Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic
In ten years’ time, you can be you ten years older or you can be an expert in a field you choose now. What will it be?
