Who or what is a trailblazer?

Is it someone who takes inspired action on new opportunities before anyone else?

Or is a trailblazer someone who paves a new path to love, happiness, and fulfillment by not conforming to what others say they can be or do after 60?

In part two of this five-part series for Sixty and Me readers, we are going to answer these questions and more.

This article, and the accompanying video, focuses on the first step of the “4 Steps to Blaze a New Path for Yourself After 60”.

STEP 1: Get Clear on What a Trailblazer Means for You

A Catalyst for Change

Everything in life changes. In fact, change is an immutable law of nature. We know this, but most fight against it.

Therefore, to blaze a new path for yourself after 60 means you need to be a catalyst for change.

But what kind of change?

Traditionally, trailblazers have been defined as someone who radically transforms cultures, industries, or the world itself.

What about radical, inner transformation?

What if you can blaze a new path to more love, happiness, and fulfillment after 60 by redefining what the status quo of your life is?

Not on the terms of what others think. But on your own terms.

Where does this take place? Inside you.

Specifically, it unfolds through the connection of your mind and heart.

It’s About Loving More of Yourself

Being a trailblazer in your life comes down to how willing you are to love yourself so much that you no longer choose to submit to the temptation of your limiting beliefs.

This also includes not defining your self-worth or being influenced by other people’s limiting beliefs.

Why is this so important?

Because you cannot blaze a new, more fulfilling path for yourself if you attempt to do so with limiting beliefs and behaviors that no longer serve your best interests.

What does loving more of yourself look and feel like at this stage of your life?

It looks like your true, authentic self. And it feels like the unconditional love and joy you have been seeking.

How do you accomplish something that may seem unattainable?

By loving more of who you are today. For the more you love who you are the more authentic you allow yourself to be.

Your Authentic Self

Becoming more comfortable with your true, authentic self is reflected in your life in a lot of different ways. None more empowering than accepting life’s obstacles and their solutions come from within you.

This doesn’t mean you won’t find yourself triggered by the outside world. Nor does it mean you will not seek help from others or even desire a romantic union. It means you won’t be giving away your power to other people or allow outside circumstances to dictate who you are.

Life may not always turn out as you wish, but life can be turned in your favor simply by choosing to perceive it from a new, healthier perspective.

This all comes down to taking one hundred percent responsibility for your well-being. For how else can you be authentic if you are blaming others for how you feel?

Being responsible for your emotional well-being is a reflection of becoming more of your authentic self. And this comes back to self-love.

One very specific way this plays out in the lives of many after 60, particularly women, is instead of following the traditional path of pleasing others before yourself, you now put yourself front and center.

A Relic of a Bygone Era

Most women of our generation were raised and educated to tend to the needs of everyone else at the exclusion of our own needs. To sneak in a moment of self-care was treated more like a luxury than a necessity for our well-being.

Even when we did indulge in some form of self-love and self-care, how guilty or self-conscious did we feel?

No sooner than we took time for ourselves, most of us were right back at the grind, seeking to please everyone in the hopes we would be seen as worthy of their love.

People Pleasing Is a Relic of a Bygone Era

Flipping the narrative on people pleasing is a central part of being a trailblazer.

It doesn’t mean you become cold and aloof. It means you are establishing healthy boundaries, while being loving and kind to others.

Healthy Boundaries

Healthy boundaries are essential to being a trailblazer in your life after sixty.

Here are three effective ways to begin setting healthy boundaries:

1. Take time to review specific relationships where you say “yes” to doing things for others when you really want to say “no.”
2. Identify where you can begin taking more time for yourself.
3. Visualize and journal how will you use this time to replenish your mind and body with rejuvenated energy.

Defining what a trailblazer is for you after 60 is just the first step.

The next step is going inward to discover who your true, authentic self is and get clear on what new path you desire to create. We will focus on this in the next article and video of our five-part series.

In the meantime, join me in the video where I will share additional insights and also guide you through seven journal prompts to help you integrate what you are learning.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What does being a trailblazer mean to you? Can you be a trailblazer? In what way are you already making steps toward your authentic self?