Not Too Late to Live
Rilke, Longevity Literacy & Full Force Living
Not Too Late
You are not dead yet, it’s not too late
to open your depths by plunging into them
and drink in the life
that reveals itself quietly there.
Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke wrote these words in Das Stunden-Buch—The Book of Hours—a collection of poems he composed between 1899 and 1903. He was only in his mid-20s. But he grasped something profound: transformation is always available to us. A fuller, freer life is always possible.
I share this Rilke poem often in coaching sessions with my clients, many of whom come to me in midlife and at a crossroads—longing for liberation from the relentless pursuit of success, perfection, and approval, yet unsure whether it’s possible to move through the world in another way.
These clients embark on the inner journey with immense courage. But often, especially as they begin to shed outdated operating patterns and descend into the unknown, their doubts and fears start to surface.
Is it really worth it?
Maybe I’m too old for this.
Maybe it is too late.
That’s when I pull out this poem, and let Rilke remind them:
You are not dead yet. It’s not too late… to really live.
More Time Than You Think
In his most recent book, Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age, Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy (MEA), echoes Rilke’s It’s not too late idea with a social science spin.
He says that developing our “Longevity Literacy” is a contributing factor to experiencing a greater quality of life as we age. Instead of entering midlife with a vague sense that something is shifting, if we stop and do the math, we’ll recognize something startling:
I have more time left than I thought.
Think about it: if you’re 50, you likely still have 30-40 years of active, fulfilling life ahead. That’s an entire adulthood, the same number of years that stretched from college to now. Metabolizing this truth opens up a sense of possibility.
Be Like Mike
Ok. So it is one thing for twenty-something year-old Rilke or mid-forties me to champion this It’s not too late idea. To encourage people to embrace the possibilities for inner exploration and growth that future years provide.
But it is quite another thing for Mike to do it.
Because he’s 82.
I met Mike in late January while I was co-teaching a weeklong workshop with Chip Conley at the MEA’s Santa Fe campus (I’ll be teaching again this October in Baja—JOIN ME).
The group was full of inspiring characters, but I was especially moved by Mike, recently widowed and completely enamored with Chat GPT. When I asked him what brought him to MEA, he said simply:
“I’m trying to figure out my next chapter.”
Life goals! May I be the kind of man at 82 who is still growing, evolving, and leaning into what’s next.
Mike was plunging into the depths during the weeklong workshop―tenderhearted, helpful, curious, hilarious. Not to mention that he belted out an incredible rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” during our group karaoke session.
Again… Life goals!
A few weeks after the workshop, Mike signed up for my group meditation course, continuing to demonstrate his zest for life. He’s the oldest person I’ve ever taught. Sure, I shared a game-changing technique with him. But he gave me something just as powerful in return:
Living proof that personal growth has no expiration date.
Full Force in Everything
Cultivating Longevity Literacy means understanding that you have more time left than you thought…
Most likely.
But the truth is, none of us actually knows how many years are ahead of us. How many months. How many days.
Last weekend, my brother and sister-in-law traveled to Cincinnati for their dear friend Alison’s funeral. She left behind a husband and three children. She was only 43.
Just five weeks earlier she was alive.
Then a cancer diagnosis.
Then…
It was all so sudden.
My sister-in-law, devastated by the loss, also saw Alison’s approach to life in her death, writing in a text:
“Honestly, so on-brand for Alison to go like this… Five weeks… Full force in everything.”
Indeed, she was full force in everything, as her obituary makes clear:
To know Alison was to know joy. Whether it was creating magic in a classroom as a French teacher for 19 years, hosting lively dinner parties and conversations with friends and loved ones, playing music, or serving the vulnerable, Alison lit up the room with wide-eyed wonder wherever she went. Her joy was contagious…
Alison’s love of language, travel, and culture intersected with her heart for refugees and international justice. She spent several summers serving in rural Honduran villages and a Ghanaian refugee camp. Most recently she taught ESL to Mauritanian refugees in the Lockland community. Alison’s heart for the vulnerable was as big as her smile.
What a beautiful life!
Alison never knew her life would be cut short at 43. But it’s as if she had always lived knowing. Because she was always all in.
Loving, laughing, learning, giving.
Full force in everything.
Her story stops me in my tracks. Because, right alongside the insight of Longevity Literacy, it forms a pair of opposite considerations:
You may have more time left than you think.
You may have far less.
Either way, there’s only one sane response:
Plunge into your depths.
Drink in the life that reveals itself quietly there.
What’s Waiting for You?
Maybe there’s something calling to you. Something you’ve been circling for years. A new path, a creative pursuit, a shift in how you move through the world.
Maybe you’ve been telling yourself it’s too late.
It’s not.
The perfect time to embrace your fullest life is always right now.
So, let me leave you with a question, one commonly asked at MEA, to help you begin to open yourself to your depths:
Ten years from now, what will I regret if I don’t learn it or do it now?