Fullfilling your Dreams as a Senior Citizen

Fulfilling Your Dreams, As A Senior By Eva Fry

Today there are 30 million seniors. In 2030 there will be 70 million. The senior years can be an opportunity to fulfill dreams. Think of how happy those 70 million seniors will be if they believe they still have time to live their dreams. Think of how much happier and better our world will be when it is filled with people who are productive, doing good and living fulfilled lives, in their latter-years.

When we were young, we each had dreams of what we wanted to do with our life. Unfortunately many of us have never realized those dreams.

Why? We may have had parents who didn’t provide the opportunities we needed, when we were young. We may have married young, had children and the responsibilities of life took over. Before we knew, it we were seniors and believed we were too old to live our dreams.

I’m happy to report I am not one of those who live with regret or wish they had done more with their lives. Today, I am 67 years old and I am living my dreams.

I had three dreams when I was a young girl. My first, to be married, have children, and be a good mother with a happy family. My second, to be an entertainer and my third dream was to be a missionary.

Thankfully I have accomplished all three of my dreams and I’m starting on new ones.

My husband and I have been married for 48 years. We have three wonderful grown children and nine grandchildren. Why was this dream so important to me? My father was alcoholic and my mother emotionally ill. My childhood was sad and troubled. I desperately wanted a happy family like some of my friends. I was blessed to have that dream come true because I worked hard to make it come true.

Through the years, I never forgot my dreams to become an entertainer and a missionary. I just put them on hold. These dreams took a long time coming, but today my dreams have come true.

How have I accomplished my long-awaited dreams, in my senior years?

Change is the answer! Life doesn’t always stay the same. One door to our life may close but a new door always opens and we must be ready for it. When my children grew up and started their own lives, it left me in an empty nest. I was smart enough to use it as a launching pad to direct me toward my life-long dreams. I now had time to pursue them.

It began with me going back to college and taking a speech class. I took it to overcome my shyness and to learn to be more outgoing to I would have a chance at being an entertainer. You must know that I had no musical training and could not play an instrument so I had big dreams.

The class was a big step toward my dreams. I discovered I was a pretty good speaker and was asked to be on the college speech team. I traveled all over the USA competing with my speeches with intelligent teenagers. It was so much fun and I won a national speaking award. I joined Toastmasters and became president of my club. I took a stand-up comedy class. For many years I spoke for Mother’s Against Drunk Driving, because I had been a victim of a drunk driver when I was a teenager. These all helped me gain confidence in myself and encouraged me to see what I could do as an entertainer.

I began to learn words to old songs and entered a talent contest for the city of San Diego and won another award. For several years now, I have been the master of ceremonies for the same talent show and for their variety show at the San Diego Fair.

At the age of 60 I began entertaining at senior residences and to learn to play the piano and guitar. I began to write my own music. I have produced 60 songs and had my music played on 150 radio stations. For several years now I have entertained with my own show using my own music at many functions.

I feel I have actually accomplished my second dream to become an entertainer. I wrote a book to encourage others to do the same called “You Must Have a Dream.”

Accomplishing my third dream, to become a missionary, has been a wonderful blessing to me. Because I spoke for MADD, I was asked to speak at Juvenile Hall in San Diego. Because of my involvement with incarcerated kids, I began my own program called “Be a Winner in Life.’ which I presented for ten years to over 10,000 young people. From this I wrote two books to help the kids “Be a Winner in Life” and “Letters From Juvenile Hall, Kids Helping Kids.”
This work has helped me be a missionary to these children teaching them true values and principals of life. My books help me share the message of The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the joy that it brings.

I am a senior citizen now and very thankful to God that I was able to fulfill the dreams of my heart.

We can all live to be 100 years old. How will your life turn out? I hope that when your life is over you will have no regrets and you will never have to say “I wish”, “if only”, but rather you will say, “ I fully lived my life and I have no regrets. I loved my life because I lived my dreams! This is how I feel about my life. I am so thankful. The Lord has truly blessed me. I pray He will bless you too.

My books can be purchased at www.evafry.com . I hope they will encourage you to live your dreams.