Peter Pan Lied To Me, or Maybe, Neverland Is a State of Mind?
Posted on January 16, 2015 by Denise McCanles, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.
You can be whoever you want to be at any age. Who says you can’t? You can choose to be old, or you can choose to fight back!
Peter Pan lied to me. When I was a little girl, I loved the story of Peter Pan, and would act out the entire movie all the time. I knew every song by heart and I even directed and starred in my third grade production. Peter Pan said that if you found Neverland, you would never have to grow up. Well, I’ve been looking for Neverland ever since, and now it’s too late. Not only did I grow up, but I keep getting older and older by the day. I can’t get my head around the person I see in the mirror. The person I am inside, and the person in the mirror, are just not the same. How did I become that person, the person who is terrified of seeing her reflection when sitting in front of her computer screen just when the sunlight hits it in that oh-so-right way? Or the person who is asked at the grocery store if you want help out with your groceries, ma’am? Or the person who gets emails and snail mail for cemetery plots? (Thank you very much, AARP!) How about the person whose TV and movie viewing habits are completely ignored?
And then I realized I was looking at this all wrong. I realized what I really had to do was thank Peter Pan because Peter Pan taught me to think young. It’s all in your attitude. Neverland is about your state of mind. It’s about believing that life isn’t just for the young. It’s about challenging yourself and being relevant and adventurous no matter what your age. I do this by keeping up on popular culture, because I am interested in it. I challenge myself physically and mentally every day. I talk to young people all the time and get their point of view on things. I keep up on what they are listening to and watching. I happen to love Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj, and I watch everything from “The Good Wife” to “Jane The Virgin.” That keeps me young. If your inner critic is telling you you’re too old to reinvent yourself, you’re too old for that job, or you’re too old for school, then tell your inner critic to shut up, because you’re not!! It’s all in your head! You can be whoever you want to be at any age. Who says you can’t? You can choose to be old, or you can choose to fight back! You have lots of life experience and wisdom to share. What are you waiting for? Next year you’ll be a year older, than a year older after that, so do it now!! Neverland is all is your head, and that’s a great thing!