A Glorious Freedom

The year this book is published, I will be 49 years old. By profession, I am an artist, an illustrator, and a writer. I did not begin drawing or painting until I was 31 years old. I did not begin my illustration career until I was 40. I did not begin writing regularly until I was 42. I did not publish my first book until I was 44.

I did not get married until I was 45. I just published my seventh book. My eighth comes out next year.

Surrender—with its attendant allowing, releasing, and accepting—is the supreme yoga of growing older.

I can say with confidence that I’m a true yogini now. And because I’m over 50, I can also tell you that yoga provides one of the best approaches to aging with some kind of grace (even though I regularly topple over during balancing poses). Together, yoga and getting older have catalyzed a season of confidence that I don’t think I’d have access to otherwise.

being in my 50s is a gift that unfolds daily. This is true even while I’m a sweaty mess during my 7 a.m. yoga class, watching the most accomplished star student who, ironically enough, is actually named Star, fold and unfold herself into all sorts of impossible positions.

The average life expectancy, especially for women, is between 80 and 90. I tell them, Some of you are 60, and what are you going to do for the next thirty years? Sit there and brood about what didn’t happen, or make it happen now? There are certain things we can’t do. If you want to win a medal in the Olympics and are 70 years old and have never moved a finger, it’s not going to happen. But if you are a writer, if you have a dream of traveling, if you are an artist—there is so much you can do. It is so rewarding, to know that you did live the moment that you dreamed of.

As I gain experience, my writing is no longer about me. What I wrote as a young person was always personal. As you grow older and you experience the world, it becomes more interesting to listen than to talk. You listen, and you hear new voices.

Our power is never about how pretty we are. Our power is about how we live our lives. Start living it.

Lisa: What for you is the best part of getting older?
Cheryl: Feeling more secure about who I am. Feeling stronger about being okay with disappointing people. Putting up less of a facade. Being gentler with myself and others, too.

That’s the magic formula: work.

it occurred to me I had through an extreme combination of circumstance and deliberate choices, become the very role model I’d been missing