How to Begin Again After 60

Our Last 30 Years (according to Jane Fonda & me)
Part 1 - Begin Again Anytime™

This post opens my January series, Begin Again Anytime™ — a reminder that meaningful change doesn’t belong to a season or a calendar. We don’t have to wait for a new year, a milestone, or a perfect moment. We can begin again whenever clarity shows up and something inside us says, now feels right. You can read the full series here.

While listening to Michelle Obama’s podcast, I heard Jane Fonda describe something that stopped me cold. 

In about 30 seconds, she articulated what many of us feel. 

She wasn’t prepared for her last 30 years… 

and when she realized she was in them, she made some decisions.

Here’s the part that hit me:

You and I are in our last 30 years, too.
Have you ever thought about it like that?

Because she’s Jane, she named her last 30 year plan with clarity and zero drama:

No fear of aging or dying
No regrets
Surround herself with people she truly loves
And the big one: forgiving herself

Then Michelle and Bethann Hardison talked about how their mothers prepared them for death, calmly and honestly.

And I thought: “Oh! My Mom wasn’t the only one.”

My Mom always said,

“We’re dying from the moment we’re born.” or “Live today like it’s your last.”
And when someone died she said, “Remember the good. They lived fully.”

It wasn’t morbid. It was grounding. It shaped my entire relationship with aging and mortality.

I’ve never feared dying — I just hope it’s quick or peaceful.
What I do think about now, after 60, is how
I want to live the time I have left.

We deserve to make our last years — however many — our best:

without denial
without fear
with the clarity six decades have earned us

And clarity gives us something powerful: CHOICE.

We can choose to live the rest of our life with no regrets.

Jane realized she wasn’t prepared for the last 30 — so she pivoted. Quickly. Intentionally.
We can too.

She chose honesty.
She chose letting go.
She chose love, forgiveness, and freedom.

Her only fear was leaving behind something unfinished —

hurt she hadn’t released,
love she hadn’t offered,
forgiveness she hadn’t given herself.

And I thought:
Yes. Me too.

Because here’s the truth many 60+ women feel but rarely say:

We’re not scared of aging.
We’re not scared of dying.

We’re scared of not fully living what remains.

Some of us don’t need another 30 years.
Ten or fifteen good ones would be enough.
I know I feel that way.

The point isn’t the timeline.
It’s the clarity that arrives with this stage of life:

This is the chapter where we decide who we really are.
And how we really want to live.

That’s what inspired this series.

Because beginning again isn’t about January. It’s not about resolutions or tidy planners.

It’s about the moment we realize:

• our time is more precious

• our tolerance for nonsense is lower

• our joy matters more

• and our desire to live honestly is non-negotiable

Beginning again in our last decades isn’t reinvention for reinvention’s sake.
It’s letting go of what hurts and choosing what aligns — fully and unapologetically.

It’s designing the life we want now… not the one we were expected to live before.

It’s choosing:

Relationships that nourish us.
Choices that energize us.
Forgiveness for the years we didn’t know better.
Time that feels sacred.
More ease. More joy. Less noise.

Beginning again isn’t about how much time is left.
It’s about the truth we finally see clearly.

We can Begin Again Anytime™.
Especially now.