Noelle Nelson, 75½, competes in ballroom dancing and credits her longevity to passion, purpose, and not caring what others think. She contrasts children's freedom from self-doubt with adults' self-imposed limits, arguing that shedding those beliefs and pursuing joy are essential for thriving in later years.
Chapters
You look at a toddler, they don't know that crawling has to lead to walking. They don't know what's going on or anything else. But it's sort of like nothing stops them, which is why we call it the terrible twos, right? They get into everything. They have no self-limiting beliefs at that point in time. We are truly innocent in the best sense of the word. And I think that one of the glories of being older, which I appreciate enormously, is I don't care anymore what anybody thinks. And that has taken— I mean, I'm not going to break the law. You understand what I mean? I don't care. For example, I'm a competitive ballroom dancer. I really don't care what other people might think of that. I mean, I'm 75 and a half, thank you very much. And I'm out there on the competitive floor and I'm having a ball, literally, no pun intended. Yeah. And it's, again, not that I'm so special, but I have learned from these amazing— not to hold myself back with what you call so accurately self-limiting