Writing Online In Your 60s Is The New Anti-Aging Street Drug

Nothing like a challenge to get your creative juices flowing

10 years ago, I struggled to write more than a few emails a day.

Now I write for 2-3 hours most days, am working on a new book, post online daily, and send a newsletter (this one) most weeks.

And it’s more than fun.

It’s challenging.

It’s fascinating.

It’s energizing.

It’s transforming.

It’s addictive.

And I meet the best people.

So, what changed?

Take time to tell your stories

Back in 2016, I gave myself a challenge—to self-publish my first book: Write Your Book at Fifty.

I wrote it with myself as the audience.

And to inspire others over 50.

To tell their stories, share what they know, and leave something of themselves behind.

Because, as you may already know, after 50, time takes on a scary role.

You learn to cherish your time.

You have no idea how much of it you have left.

You want to squeeze the juice out of your days.

Because things you knew would come one day, start to show up.

Not just boring wrinkles and niggly back pain.

Stuff that goes way deeper.

Like how friends and family suddenly vanish from your life.

And you realize you wish you knew them better.

You think of all the questions you could have asked them.

All the stories you’d love to have drawn out.

The memories of times together.

The deep and meaningful chats that surprised and slayed you.

How you wish you had something of them to go back to.

To bind that person in time and space.

A book, maybe.

So I wrote my book to say, “Please don’t wait. Start now.”

Get the stories down. Get the book out.

Tell me your stories about who you are.

And I’m happy to say that, since then, several friends have done just that.

Told their stories. Shared their lives.

Shown their hand.

What they’ve been quietly thinking about or working on for decades.

It’s hard to stop after writing your book

And I, too, have kept on writing after the book came out.

Because I can’t imagine a week without it.

I feel disconnected, less myself if I don’t write.

If I don’t express what’s inside.

If my words just float away on the wind each day in a cafe conversation.

That’s not enough.

The words are worth more.

So, to get into a regular daily habit, I committed to writing online.

Every day.

And I found I could access a well of ideas and feelings I wanted to share.

In the hope that they help a reader.

In the knowing that writing helps me.

Words connect your head and heart with other humans

It’s becoming a cliché: “We’re social animals.”

We need each other to survive and thrive.

And words connect us and make us feel seen and heard.

We’re wired to use words.

To ease communication (clearer than grunts and finger-pointing after all).

We have a language center in our brains (called Broca’s area).

And we use words in speech and in written form to help each other navigate life.

Not just to share where the best coffee is and other necessities.

But also to let others know where to find the best art, the best music, and the best thinkers.

The best way to grow old.

The best way to stay young.

The best way to let go.

The easiest way to thrive.

Words are bridges to our deeper selves

Writing is a form of self-expression that asks a lot of us.

It asks us to get ever more subtle.

Because to truly connect with others, we need to dig deep inside ourselves.

To feel empathy.

To be honest.

To listen.

As we get more refined with the words we choose, even more subtle and sensitive feelings show up.

Our inner lives become richer.

And that translates to more feeling, more vulnerability, and more nuance on the page.

Around and around the virtuous circle goes.

We start making sense of the stories we’ve told ourselves.

We start to recognise patterns in what we choose and how we can change.

We start to really see who we are.

A creative outlet draws more life to you

An unexpected bonus of writing more was meeting the fellow writers who entered my life.

All these creative, excited, engaged, and beautiful people.

As they say in the acknowledgments, you know who you are.

I found them on my self-publishing course. In online forums. In writing communities online.

We share how we cringe, how we stutter, and how we occasionally blaze in glory.

It’s a blast, and I’m not sure where else you can find such global groups that live at this intensity.

There’s something about creating that is bound to life itself.

Sure, the creative path doesn’t have to be writing.

Yours might be designing homes, building boats, or cooking up a storm.

I enjoy gardening, playing music, and doing art too.

But not in the same way as writing, as I’m newer to those other skills.

They don’t come as easily.

And I’m careful about how I use my time these days.

What matters in a creative choice is that you get into the flow state.

Which requires some competence plus a challenge.

A willingness to be stretched.

And that desire is the mark of a growth mindset.

Which bodes well for juicing all the energy and vitality your later decades have to offer.

Best street drug. And cheaper. Not that I ever did them.

So, if you enjoy writing and want to test your limits, why not try writing online?

It’s far easier to start there than with writing a book, believe me.

I’ll be sharing more tips and stories about wellbeing (without drugs) and writing online with you here, and I'd love to hear how you’re doing.

Let me know in the chat how I can help.