Friday Thread: Pursuing dreams after you're 'grown up'?

Sep 3

I’m on all the big social media networks, but to be honest they’re mostly a bore for me at this point. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing what friends are up to, photos of their kids, and just funny memes and things like that. But it’s kinda the same old, same old (mostly) at this point.

The one social network that I’m absolutely addicted to, though, is Twitter. I never really was into it until about 4 or 5 years ago, but I’ve been hooked since I started using it regularly, because it’s kinda like a social network of people you don’t really know — and you can have conversations with people that fascinate you, from writers and scientists to actors and musicians, to really anyone.

The other day, I stumbled across this Twitter thread that I found both inspiring and thought-provoking. It made me wonder, why do we focus so much on achievement in the earliest stages of life, when SO MUCH interesting stuff happens to us later in life. (Just to name a couple, Ray Kroc didn’t launch McDonald’s until he was 59, and Delia Owens didn’t publish “Where the Crawdads Sing” until she was 69.)

Here’s the thread:

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

In 1980, a psychiatric nurse at Chicago's Michael Reese Hospital (and mother of two) divorced her husband in the midst of a particularly troubled married life and decided to pursue her lifelong dream of an acting career. She was 40.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

She had a poignant catalyst: her mother's deathbed confession that she regretted not pursuing her own dreams. So, this woman, with no previous experience or training in acting, signed up for classes at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

For ten years, she made a bumpy transition into acting. To support herself and her kids, she painted houses and hung wallpaper. She slowly learned the craft, winning parts in local theatre productions. And in 1990, at age 50, she was hired as a street performer at Disney World.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

Over the next several years, she worked hard and won guest roles on a long list of notable television shows of the '90s: E.R., Seinfeld, Frasier, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Home Improvement, etc. She just kept driving. She was making enough money doing what she loved.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

And in 1999, she got her big break: 60 year-old Kathryn Joosten won the part of Dolores Landingham (Mrs. Landingham) on "The West Wing". The character's death was a crucial plot line in one of the finest episodes of television ever produced: 2nd season finale "Two Cathedrals".

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

She would go on to have numerous guest roles in other shows--as well as a bit role in 2005's Wedding Crashers--before being cast as Karen McCluskey in "Desperate Housewives", for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

Joosten had survived lung cancer in 2001 and 2009 and became an advocate for awareness on the disease. She died in 2012 at 72, having very much earned the right to say she had lived a full life.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

I bring this up because I hate ageism. I hate the way we strip older folks of their humanity by asserting that they can't do something not on the basis of their ability or competence but the date on their birth certificate. As though they just need to accept their lot past 50.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

If someone decides in their 50s, 70s, 90s or whatever that they want to go to medical school or become an actor or open a business or run for office, who in the hell are we to say they can't?

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

If you love something and you're willing to put in the work and meet the standards of excellence in an ethical way, why should age ever matter? Telling someone they're "too old" to do something denies their gifts to the world, and how dare any of us do that.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

Vera Wang didn't start designing clothes until she was 40. Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't publish her first book until she was 65. Told as a young woman that being a doctor wasn't "appropriate for women", Genevie Kocourek would go on to graduate medical school at 53.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

And in an era of increased and crucial political activism, when women form the bulk of organizing + campaigning, it's simply unconscionable that any person would tell a woman in her 50s, 60s, 70s and up that she shouldn't run for office because she's "too old". That's nonsense.

Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 @cmclymer

We should all be so lucky to have that drive and inspiration and reject the naysayers of the world who view dreams as subject to the perceived and arbitrary nature of a number. Stop shaming folks because of age. If they can deliver, honor that. We're all better off. /thread

My question to you guys is, how are you thinking about the goals and dreams you want to pursue once you’re “grown up”? (Whatever that means!) We all need pursuits, we all need something to look forward to — even if it’s just a vacation. What are you dreaming of for the pursuits you’ll pursue, and how are you finding the courage to dare?

I realize this is a bit of a rambling post/question, but it’s what’s on my mind — and I’d love to know what’s on yours too. 😃 — Terrell

Friday Thread: Pursuing dreams after you're 'grown up'?

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