May 15, 2026
Reader
This weekend, we're celebrating my daughter — and I am over the moon excited for her.
When she graduated from college (Cum Laude, thankyouverymuch — I think she got that from me - lol), she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do with her life. Honestly, who is at 22? She had a sharp mind and a degree to match, so she found her footing as the Outdoor Services Manager at a prestigious public golf course. She was good at it. But she wanted more.
So, she enrolled in a paralegal program at the local community college. She became a paralegal — and then quickly realized she was just as smart as the attorneys she was working for. So back to school she went.
She graduated from law school. She took the Bar Exam.
She failed.
She picked herself up and took it again.
She failed again.
Maybe a different state? Less stringent scoring requirements? She tried.
She failed again.
I won't pretend those were easy phone calls to receive as her mother. There's a special kind of heartbreak in watching someone you love work that hard and still come up short. And I know she wondered — more than once — whether this was the path she was meant to walk.
She took a year off. She had a son. She breathed.
And then she decided: this dream is not dead.
She studied. She sat for that exam again. And this time?
She passed.
What the Research Actually Says (And Why It Should Make You Smile)
I've been thinking about what her story really means — not just as a proud mom, but as someone who writes about life after 60. Because here's the thing: we live in a culture that quietly suggests the window for big dreams closes somewhere around the time your kids leave home. I'd like to respectfully disagree.
Psychologist Angela Duckworth, who literally wrote the book on this (it's called Grit, and it's worth your time), defines perseverance not as white-knuckling your way through failure, but as a combination of passion and long-term stamina. Her research found that grit — not talent, not intelligence, not circumstances — was the single strongest predictor of achievement. My daughter, with her three failed Bar exams and her eventual triumph, is basically a case study.
But here's what I find even more interesting for our demographic specifically.
Research on aging and resilience consistently shows that older adults have certain perseverance advantages over younger ones. We are better at regulating our emotions after setbacks. We are less likely to catastrophize. We have decades of evidence that we've survived hard things — and that quiet confidence, even when we don't feel it, shapes how we respond to failure.
There's also a growing body of research on what's called "post-traumatic growth" — the idea that people often emerge from struggle stronger and with clearer purpose. This effect doesn't diminish with age. If anything, we come to hard things with more patience, more self-knowledge, and a clearer sense of what actually matters to us.
We're not just resilient. We're primed for it.
The Dream Doesn't Have an Expiration Date
So let me ask you something.
Is there a dream you've quietly set aside? Something you've told yourself the window has closed on?
Mine was my MBA. I earned it at 50. I won't lie to you — there were moments I thought, who am I kidding? But I did it. And it changed how I see myself.
Maybe you want to write a book. Paint something that actually looks like what you were picturing. Learn to play the piano — really play it, not just "Chopsticks" at Thanksgiving. Maybe you want to go back to school, start a business, or finally take that trip you've been rescheduling for fifteen years.
You might be 60. You might be 70. The dream doesn't expire — but the time to start is always now.
Here's your assignment for this week — and I promise it's a small one. Write down one thing you gave up on. Just write it down. Don't make a plan yet, don't talk yourself out of it, don't Google how long it takes. Just name it. That's step one.
My daughter didn't pass the Bar on her first try. Or her second. Or her third. But she named the dream, protected it, and refused to let it go — even when it would have been completely reasonable to walk away.
Someday, she'll tell her son that story. And I hope he understands what his mother actually gave him: not just a law degree, but proof that the hard things are worth doing.
What's your hard thing? (Mine has been this Blog - it is growing, albeit slowly - but growing)
Don't give up on it.
Quote for the Day:
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time.” — Thomas A. Edison
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Books I'm Reading
A Fun Book: The Last Call at the Savoy - Brisa Carlton
The Meaning of Your Life - Arthur C. Brooks
Partner I Recommend
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Warmly,
Wendy
Founder OverSixtyInsights
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