What does getting older mean to you?
In this week’s episode of Girls With Goals, our panel takes on societies ever-growing obsession with youth (28.23), and we’re posing the question… if you could, would you freeze time?
Joining Niamh Maher on the panel this week is Life Coach, mentor, and founder of The Better Life Project Sarah Doyle, and fashion stylist, designer, and creative director Courtney Smith.
The ladies also talk about weird life rules (5:48), and 3 time Olympian and professional badminton player Chloe Magee joins us for our Spotlight On Sport (16:33).
Listen to the full episode in the link below or keep reading:
Taking on the topic of ageing is a daunting prospect, but it seems the ‘quarter-life crisis’ is a very real and palpable fear for many of us. Researchers and doctors alike are now convinced that this new age phenomenon of freaking out when we’re barely past 25 will hit most of us… if it hasn’t already.
New findings from LinkedIn show that a quarter-life crisis will arrive when you’re just 26 and nine months old, this means that 72percent of young professionals have suffered from a quarter-life crisis already.
So, what are the top things that are triggering this panic? 57percent of people admit to obsessing over the property ladder, similarly, 57percent say finding a fulfilling career keeps them up at night. Finding a life partner weighs on the mind of 46percent of people at this uncertain age.
So how did our Girls With Goals panelists feel about getting older?
Life Coach Sarah Doyle set up The Better Life Project originally as a beloved side project, but she quickly found that it had the means to become a stand-alone business.
Committing to the movement and getting intense fulfillment from her clients, Sarah left her day job to provide full-time guidance to women who wanted to reach their personal and professional goals. Opening up about her own life, Niamh asked Sarah how she felt about growing old:
“It’s one of my irrational fears, and something that I’m only starting to wrap my head around, the older I get the younger I feel. What I keep coming back to is that growing old is a privilege that not many of us get to experience, if you open your eyes to the world there are people who are dying before they get to my age. I try to remind myself of that, and it makes a massive difference to how I feel about it.”
Fashion stylist and designer Courtney Smith had a slightly different take on ageing, and admitted to making a slight spur of the moment purchase that she doesn’t regret:
“I had a bit of a moment, I did what 50-year-old men do… I bought a Harley Davidson. I was like… what have I always wanted to do? I’ve always wanted to ride a bike, so I took a course and bought a Harley, as you do. I don’t regret it, I love the bike!”
Courtney went on to admit that getting older stirs up those dreaded inner questions of achievement:
“There’s definitely a sense of … what have I accomplished? I’ve always said that I wanted to live in New York, I’m trying to make that happen, even if it’s only baby steps, I now have my media visa where I can go for 3 months. I don’t want to wake up and be 50 and not have done the New York thing “.
Admittedly, we all place pressure on ourselves. It is, however, important to stop from time to time, take a breath, and look at what we’ve accomplished. We can’t allow ourselves to get bogged down by regret or what we’ve yet to achieve, as Sarah highlights:
” We place our happiness on things that have happened outside of us and when I’m working with someone and they say I expected life would be and should be this way, my first statement is… let’s get rid of the should. We need to trade that for appreciation of what we do have. When I’m working with someone I will encourage them to express gratitude here and now for the things they do have, and what they have accomplished .”
Now Sarah, if you could take all of our money and coach us through life forever and ever… thanks.
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Girls With Goals is available to download every Monday morning on Soundcloud and iTunes.
