by Julie Seedorf

I spent the weekend with my children and grandchildren. At any given time someone was either on their iPod, their cell phone texting,  reading on their kindle or playing games on the Xbox. Earbuds made their way into ears so each person could listen to their own music or their videos. I wasn’t any better,  doing the same thing along with the other adults in the house. It wasn’t just the kids, we were all engaged in our own thing at one time or another–some more than others.

We did have some rousing games of cards, putting away our electronics for periods of time. I was going to lament to my children, making the statement  it never used to be like this when I was growing up, when I had a flashback in my mind to my teenage years. It did used to be like this when I…

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

— Mark Twain

Frank McCourt relished his role as Fitzgerald slayer. The famed high school teacher turned author loved to put the kibosh on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous line,”There are no Second Acts in American life.” McCourt, who published his first book, the blockbuster bestseller Angela’s Ashes at 66( followed by ‘Tis and Teacher Man) often called the last decade of his life his best.

So I’m sure he’d delight in being my opening salvo in a motivational nudge I recently gave a client deeply entrenched in a procrastinational funk. “I’m too old to start writing a book now,” she said, lamenting her approaching birthday. I’m not sure where she got such a silly notion, but she’s not alone. I’ve had many clients and students who think they’re too old to pursue…