Kaput. Done. Finished. Gone to ruin.

You’ve seen it happen and perhaps felt it pull at you. The slow letting go and decline. The garden not tended. The home not maintained as once. The body not as active. The mind not stretched frequently. The spirit not fed. Not a dramatic collapse — just a gradual surrender to time rather than a life being lived full out.

But listen:  Ruin is not inevitable. It is a choice. So is Renovation. Regeneration. Renewal. Restoration.

In 1999, an electrical fire destroyed ‘Weatherstone.’ Carolyne Roehm’s beloved 1765 Georgian home. Nearly everything she had built, loved, and had made beautiful was reduced to ash. She was 47.

In the years before, she had already lived through devastating personal loss and the dissolution of her marriage. Weatherstone burning was the final blow in a long series of them. And still — she chose renovation.

“The shock was so sad, I thought about leaving it. Then I thought — this could be a window to creating something that’s truly mine.”

She rebuilt. A celebrated New York fashion designer, she pivoted entirely — returning to what had always lived inside her — gardening, flowers, beauty, the art of living well — and made something new from the ruins of what was lost. She wrote 13 books. She created one of the most extraordinary homes and gardens in America. And she arrived at 74 more fully herself than she had ever been.

The fire didn’t end her story. It began her Vintage one.

Her choice was Vintage Will and Desire. Not the fantasy that time stands still. Not the pretense that loss doesn’t hurt. But the deliberate, clear-eyed decision, made in the middle of the ashes and life.

The choice: I am not finished. I am Renovating. Rebuilding. Restoring.

This week a man wrote to me about coaching work. He just turned 60. Fit. Successful. Vital. Looking younger than his years. And yet —

“I find that age is factoring into my decision making,” he wrote. “Feeling a bit confused. My hunch is that I need to go a more spiritual route with my life.”

His hunch is right. The ageing question is not a crisis. It is a calling, a starting point for The Next Act of living your best and most rewarding life.

At 74 I’m releasing things I no longer want to do.  Not running down into ruin. I’m relearning French. Studying Tai Chi. Writing my second book. Coaching people around the world. Still renovating and rejuvenating my Self as a vintager… a sager… who is only getting better with age.

You are not a ruin as you age, and if you feel you are, you can stop now and begin renovating your Self. Change and maintain your entire being.

You are a valued restoration-in-progress.

Thanks – Michael (he, him)

Please share this Daily with your tribe.
This also matters –Yale Confirmed It. You Are Not Declining + Kiri Te Kanawa Shows Why.

#2274

To learn more on in a steady way, please join my email list – Commit2Change.