As a life coach, I have the privilege of listening to excerpts of others’ stories. There is a refrain I hear that is far more common than I thought when I first started out in my coaching practice.
It is the lament of the ‘late bloomer.’
I remember listening one day as a coaching client poured out her heart, repeating this all too familiar sentiment. In response I shared that I knew just how she felt for that had been part of my life journey too.
She stared at me. About the time I wanted to reach over and gently pick up her chin, she blurted out an incredulous, “Really??”
It was music to my ears. That’s when I knew this late bloomer had blossomed.
***
Juggling our pie of life, we know there are often more slices than we have plates for. More often than not we recognize the importance and need for the majority of them. But sometimes there is a nagging gut-ache that just won’t go away.
It’s not that we need one more slice of pie. It’s that we long for the pièce de résistance – the best or most important thing or event – as Webster’s defines it.
Or, that for which we were created – as God our Father defines it.
As long as we still have breath, it is never too late to bloom – as I define it.
***
When I was in my thirties, I felt like life was passing me by. I was developing in my career but it didn’t seem to me that I was making much impact. Oh sure, my bosses appreciated their gal Friday, but there was something more. I could not for the life of me put my finger on it. Identifying it was as elusive as trying to retain the fading wisps of a dream upon awakening.
As my forties unfolded, I became increasingly uncertain of being certain of anything. Life alternately raced by and drug on. The important and needful slices of my pie of life remained important and needful, with occasional variations. Our home empty-nested, work continued, and I stoked the fire of my love of learning – still without a clue to go on of what would finally become the ‘Rolaids’ to my couple decades-long gut-ache.
Then came the day I did something I had never done before. At 48 years old I went hunting with my husband.
It was while on the side of a steep mountain that it seemed the Lord had me where He wanted me. He spoke, I listened. I spoke, He listened. And through that exchange I returned home with a story to tell. So I wrote it.
I didn’t know then that writing one short story would become the catalyst for the next ten years’ unfolding.
My life has bloomed more in my fifties in ways that put my thirty and forty-year old fears and gut-ache to rest.
***
That’s a brief account of my late bloomer experience. It is also my encouragement to any of you out there who can identify with that ol’ gut-ache: the sense there is something to which you are called that will fit you like a hand in glove.
I would count it a privilege to listen to your late bloomer lament. More than that, however, would be the joy of helping you explore, discover and live life forward so that blooming is the anticipated and innate outcome. As a life coach, I love spading and watering your life soil, knowing that God adds the Miracle-Gro.
One last story…
She sat across from me at a breakfast meeting. A life maps client I had worked with a few years back, we hadn’t seen each other for about sixteen months. In the interim, life had been flowing swiftly like water under a bridge for both of us.
During the life mapping process, she had recognized a pull to get out her camera and take some pictures. It was something she had enjoyed as barely a hobby. So, acting on that little impulse, she began to take some nature photos and would share them in subsequent life mapping sessions. It was evident she was a natural.
Now sixteen months later, we sat sipping coffee and catching up. As the question hovered on my lips as to whether she was still taking pictures, she told me she had just completed the paperwork for a sole proprietorship for her budding photography business. Further, once our visit ended, she was headed to her bank to open up a business checking account.
She recounted plans that included her main business focus, future branching out, and even how the atmosphere of her new home lent to the anticipation and fulfillment she was feeling.
“I’m 74!” she exclaimed. “I don’t know why it has taken me this long to do this, but here I am. At 74!”
It was music to my ears. That’s when I knew this late bloomer had blossomed, too.
Please don’t be a shy wallflower. Contact me today to start a conversation that I pray will be part of the catalyst for bringing the late bloomer in you into full blossom!
~ Nancy
Free Photo by Unsplash – https://unsplash.com/79designs.co
Donna Kuhn says
Hi Nancy,
I’m 74 also! Must be a good time to bloom. My first class is this weekend and my first paper is due in two days.
I’m loving it.
Another adventure!
Donna
Nancy Bentz says
I love it! Have fun at your first class. I am so ‘with you’ on this adventure, Donna ~ keep me posted!