How to Make 60 The Best Time of Your Life

Please god, don’t let me die while I am still alive

Is the thought of being 60 depressing? Here is another way to view this amazing time. Read on for how to make 60 the best time of your life

I started The My Think Big Life website when I was 53 and somehow, I have become 62. And you know what? I love being in my sixties. I would never have expected that.

I see the body as energy. Most of us, are not aware of this and we prevent our energy from flowing as well as it could.

A big part of having a great life in your 60’s is learning to help your energy move better. We’ve are so focused on punishing ourselves for having real bodies, that even eating healthy and exercising are seen as penalties rather than a joy.

The following ways to make your sixties the best time of your life are all ways to get your innate energy flowing. You will not only feel better, you will look better and everything around you will get better!

Instead of focusing on accumulating more stuff or trying to look a certain way, if you focus on creating more positive energy in your body, you will achieve more than you ever thought possible. And it will feel amazing!

My Story of Turning 60

Shortly after I turned 50 my husband of 30 years asked for a divorce. Our children were grown, and we had a grandchild on the way.

I was heartbroken and the next eight months felt like I was moving through mud. My entire social life seemed to disappear (singles are not invited to as many things)

Once the divorce was final, after I moved out and to a new city to be closer to my children and grandchildren, I finally began to build my new life, which also was a time of adjusting to being in my fifties.

One year I was a traditional wife and mom living in a small town and the next year I was a single, newly thin woman living in a big city.

These ten years I have been single, have included joy, heartbreak, love, excitement, adventures galore, new passions and work, and matriarching over a growing family.

My fifties were probably the toughest decade of my life, and at the same time, my fifties were also the most exciting and exhilarating time of my life and taught me how I am the decider of what a good life looks like to me.

Now I am two years into my sixties, and I am more excited about life than ever! But in a different way.

• At 62, I am comfortable in my own skin, a leader in my field, and bursting with new ideas.
• Dieting is a thing of the past and I maintain my weight easily
• I feel gratitude each and every day for my simple life, yet at times exciting life
• My body is a source of joy and appreciation for all it can do
• I look forward with anticipation and eagerness
• My dreams and goals have changed to be aligned with what brings me the most joy

Why Turning 60 is So Powerful

Here is my take on this. After turning 60, I could sense my own mortality. Year after year, I see notices of my former high school classmates who have died.

I’m in a group on Facebook that keeps tabs on my fellow high school graduates who have died. It is very sobering to see people my age dying of all the things: heart attacks, cancer, suicide, and car accidents.

For a year or so, I felt like I was a ticking time bomb!

Now I appreciate this awareness of my mortality. I am determined to LIVE my life to the best of my ability for as long as I have.

By 60, many women have settled into their lives. I see a settling down vibe and accepting the things they feel they can’t change.

Many women can only identify one dream; they want to lose weight.

For some reason, there is so much hopeless hope put on the idea that if you lose weight, you’ll be happier.

As an eating coach, this saddens me. I’m not against losing weight or eating in a healthier way; I want that for you.

But that is not going to make you happy by itself.

You’ll still be you, with your own problems, self-doubts, and discontent.

I think many women believe that they can’t be happy or live the life they really want, until they lose weight. That is not true at all!

In fact, that idea is one that will keep you unhappy with your body forever. Let’s face it, in addition to extra weight, we have all these other fun things going on. Our loose skin, wrinkles and lines, too much hair in places, not enough hair in places, hot flashes, and poor sleep.

It can be so easy to get wrapped up in how horrible getting older is.

What I’ve discovered is a freedom in all that. This day is probably the best I will ever look, feel and be, so I might as well love it.

I want more for all my clients who are in their fifties and sixties. You can still be creating a life that feels like you. You really can sort out what you really want without blowing up your life.

None of us know how long we’re going to have. After 60, you can be sure, you won’t have as long as you’ve had. But you might have 20 or 30 more years.

Seriously, this is it my friends!

This is your final act. How do you want to leave this world. What dreams are going to die along with you?

What creation will never see the light of day because you were afraid you would look silly?

What joy are you passing up because you think you are too overweight to participate?

If you are reading this—this is your sign to listen to that part of you that says there has to be more to life and that more can be the best you’ve ever had.

Being 60 (or any age) isn’t a less-than time of life. This is the most amazing fruitful part of life. This is your time to shine in your own life.

How to Look Younger if You Want

There is something I see over and over. I call it the light coming back on. A lot of times, women are just plain exhausted about their lives. And it shows in their face and posture when I first meet them.

Because I only see women on Zoom and I mostly only see their faces, I get to know that face very well over our six months together.

After a few months of coaching, something amazing happens. The light comes back on in their spirits.

I can see it in their faces, hear it in their voices, and sense it in their energy.

This shift makes them look younger, happier, and more energetic. And it happens whether they lose weight or not. They become confident because they are living an intentional life.

If nothing else, use this time to become intentional about how you live, who you interact with, and how you relate to others.

Here’s another thing. I believe with my whole heart that our beliefs, thoughts, and feelings make a huge difference to our quality of life.

We can’t make a life with zero challenges. We can’t live a life without loss and pain. We can’t even perfect ourselves.

Yet, our lives feel so much better when we feel more confident, more in-control, and more joyful. When we spend more time creating love than hate, we bloom.

Learning to create your own joy is key to the overall quality of your life.

Seven Ways to Make Being 60 the Best Time of Your Life

These are the seven things that have had the most impact on my life up until now. It is never too late to start! You can start to feel better in weeks.

Honestly, too many women don’t appreciate that feeling better IS the thing they want the most. We think it’s a certain body, more things, more money, the people in our lives acting a certain way…You get the idea. We think if things changed then we would feel better.

You’ve got it backwards.

Everything you want is because YOU want to feel better. Everything. So let’s get to the good part first. Let’s feel better right now.

Move your body

I started intentionally exercising as a teenager. My mom brought home the Jane Fonda workout on an actual record that we played on our record player.

I can’t remember if my mom ever did the workout but I did. When I went to college, I took it with me.

After college, I began using video tapes to exercise to at home. After the babies started coming, I used my exercise tapes to work out after the kids were in bed. Every month or so, I’d TREAT myself to a new video to keep things fresh.

I also walked every evening for three miles. This was the beginning of my love affair with walking.

Looking back, I can see that I always gravitated to exercise that felt good to me. I did not like gyms or group workouts though periodically I’d give them a try.

These days, I still work out at home. Instead of videos, I have a couple of streaming services that I pay for and I use free workouts at times.

All of the above is my way of saying, move your body—in a way that feels good for you.

I feel like we’ve all been bamboozled into thinking fitness should be hard and hurt to work. That’s nonsense!

My mom is 91 and now lives in a retirement community. I can tell you this with 100% certainty. You will wish you had taken care of your body earlier rather than later when you are older.

The most important things that determines quality of life is MOBILITY, STRENGTH, AND BALANCE. No kidding. These are the things that will hopefully keep you living independently for a long time.

With my mom living in a retirement community, good mobility is truly the thing residents miss the most when they lose it.

Once you lose it, it is almost impossible to regain it after a certain age. So find ways to move every single day. Here are some of my favorite ways that move your body without hurting it.

I usually include some kind of walking or cardio and a workout that includes stretching and strength every day. Here are some safe ways to get moving.

• Walking
• Any of the exercises that include stretching and balance: yoga, Pilates, Barre, ballet, or fusions of them
• Swimming or water aerobics
• Light weight workouts (I find these in the fusion workouts)
• Gardening and yard work

Think about this. The things you take for granted now such as walking around not worrying about falling, going up and down stairs, getting out of bed, or even getting out of a chair can be gone for good if you aren’t careful.

Your ability to move, balance, and get up and down determine the quality of your life as you age.

The main reason I love my gentle workouts is because they also develop core strength and balance. These are critical to enjoyment of life and ideally will be the foundation for my life into old age.

Eat for health and wellbeing

I write about food a lot! I’m passionate about every woman being able to eat food she likes, without binging or gaining weight, and not depriving herself.

For too long, we’ve been sold the idea that we always need to be on a diet or need to lose weight.

Forget about that number that was on the scale when you were a teen or in your twenties. Your body is different now. Let’s start talking about how to eat to support the next 20 to 40 years.

I wrote about how I eat and how I teach my clients in this post, 10 Powerful Tips to Lose Weight. Unlike diets, this is a blueprint to eating well forever. This is no diet and it never has to end.

Your best life is not 20 pounds away.

Your best life can begin right now. Eating food you like and not binging is a great place to begin. I don’t know about you but I have no desire to worry about food and my weight for the rest of my life.

This doesn’t mean I’ve given up. I love my body and I feel beautiful in it. I love wearing pretty clothes and looking my best.

Diets can often leave you looking WORSE because they deprive you of things that are good for you, such as healthy fats.

Eating a wide variety of foods that you like, minus the problem eating will feel amazing.

Get over the idea of deprivation and start thinking about feeding yourself, like you’d feed someone you love.

Most women diet from a place of hating themselves rather than feeding themselves out of love.

Hating yourself is bad for you. Loving yourself is good for you. Literally. When you feel yourself hateful thoughts and comments, it weakens your body.

Choose love over everything else

Love is one of the most powerful emotions and it is also one of the best feeling emotions. In addition to the food you eat, feeling more love is so nourishing.

Love isn’t just for a partner, family, or friends. We can love so many things and it’s in our best interest to intentionally feel love.

Years ago, when my middle granddaughter was little, I heard her reciting all the things she loved. It was obvious that she was making herself feel good by going through all the things she loved.

I immediately added this practice to my life because it feels wonderful to think of the things I genuinely love. If I have trouble falling asleep, this is one of the things I do. I just start listing people, places, and things I love.

I always feel better and more relaxed.

Get to know your feelings

A while back I watched a Brene Brown show on TV that was all about feelings. I remember two things from that show.

One, was her explanation of bittersweet. Wow, while I knew the word, the feeling was something so many of us can relate to at this time of our lives.

The second amazing thing was that most people could only identify three feelings! How about you?

The majority of my coaching work is working with clients so that they can find, become aware of, and feel their emotions, not just in their head, but where emotions live in their body.

This is the key to any lasting and positive change.

Most of us exist in autopilot and actively try to avoid feeling most of our feelings. In the end, by the end of our fifties, we are tired, maybe even exhausted, discouraged, and frustrated by how we feel even though we thought we did everything right.

I wrote a post recently about How to Feel Your Feelings Without Drowning in Them. A lot of people think if they give in to how they feel it will overwhelm them and they won’t be able to come up for air or they’ll dive face first into a gallon of ice-cream.

This is not what will happen. By actively feeling your feelings, you actually allow your body to work better. More energy is created. Feelings come and go and it’s no big deal.

And even when it is a big deal, you’ll process your feelings in a healthy way.

Check out that post here. It will really help you understand the importance of feelings.

Get creating

Almost everyone I’ve worked with as a life coach has a creative side that is usually pushed over to the side waiting for retirement or a better time.

There is no better time to be creative than right now.

It doesn’t matter what your jam is. One of mine is writing. I love it and I’m proud to put it publicly out into the world.

I also have an artistic side. It’s messy, looks like a kid made it, and I rarely show any of it. Yet, it makes me SO happy. There is something really special about doing creative things just for the joy of it.

All my grown kids and grandkids are creative too. Every few months I invite everyone over so we can create together. I put down tarps, put out canvases and paints, and we laugh and talk for hours while we create our masterpieces.

Accept your life right now as it is

The only way to have a better life is to accept the life you have. I can tell you that most people are not really happy.

Of course no one is happy all the time. But we know immediately when we meet someone with a happy spirit and when we meet someone with a miserable spirit.

And there’s another category. It’s all the women walking around with decent lives but they have a smile that doesn’t quite meet their eyes.

They know they have good lives but something is missing and they don’t know how to fix it. Most believe it is something outside of themselves. If only their partner was different. Or they lost the weight. Or they had a better job.

The light that’s missing from their eyes is their relationship with themselves. Most women have lived their lives for their family, their partner, their kids, their careers, their church, and their communities.

How many women live their lives for themselves?

I can hear the gasp of horror at that idea!

What Sara? That would be irresponsible, selfish, and prove to the world that I am a horrible human being.

Oh contraire!

I tell every client I work with, that when you live according to your own inner compass and do what’s best for YOU, everyone benefits in healthy ways as opposed to unhealthy co-dependent and people pleasing ways.

Women often confuse the trappings of life (career, your house, your car, even your children or partner) as proof of whether life is good or not.

As nice as those things can be, they don’t mean you feel good in your life.

What does feel good?

Living a life where you have purpose and meaning and do things that bring you joy.

To get there, you have to accept your life right now as it is. When you begin feeling your feelings, you are also going to find the places that don’t quite fit right.

That’s okay. Awareness is actually a great thing.

Follow your heart and inner spirt

Trust me here. Following your heart and inner spirit will not lead to mayhem and ruining your life. Here is something I have observed though.

Women often times, do not even like to admit, even to themselves, what they really think or feel. We are so accustomed to settling or making do, that we forget that we can have our own dreams and desires.

For one thing, it doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can just be little, tiny upgrades done over the rest of your life.

It takes some time to begin to trust yourself but in my opinion that is time well spent because this is when life gets really good.

Despite what you hear, read, or see, no one else really knows what is best for you! A lot of times you might not know what is best for you.

Often, we spend most of our lives living other people’s version of what we should be or what we think they expect of us. This shows up in many ways.

• How we dress
• Where we live
• Who we hang around with
• What we eat or drink
• In our spiritual lives
• Staying or not staying in a relationship

It feels so normal, we don’t even think to question why we do the things we do.

Yet, if you feel burnt out, low energy, vaguely unhappy most of the time, or invisible, you may not be aware of what you really desire, much less, following your inner spirit.

Instead of a life going crazy, by following our own inner guidance, we begin to have a life that feels good and meaningful. This is when we can understand our cravings and get past them, when our relationships get better, and when we finally feel comfortable in our own skin.

The light comes back on in our eyes!

Making Your Sixties the Best Time of Your Life

One thing I want to note here. As you discover how great you can feel, it might be tempting to have regrets. I know I do.

I acknowledge that feeling. After all regret is just a feeling and you are designed to handle uncomfortable feelings.

Since we don’t have a rewind button, we can use our NOW to live our life better aligned to our values. Look, no one gets through life without regrets. There are always going to be things we wish we had done better.

And one thing I know, is that the more we learn to process our feelings and emotions and the more we are attuned to our real desires, the fewer regrets we will have.

At 62, I believe I have a fresh start in life. I’ve consistently been working towards this point because I didn’t want turning 60 to be the end. I wanted it to be the beginning of something new and wonderful.

And that my friend is what I want for you. I wish you the best part of your life to be right now, in this very moment.