This month, Honey Good is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and truth be told, I wouldn’t have known if my Honey Bees hadn’t mentioned the occasion. The age of a business, like the age of a woman, is just a number. LOL.

When the Bees asked me to write about my experience and personal feelings, it seemed like an overwhelming assignment. I pondered what was most important and decided to leave you with two key messages about journaling and age.

If you take one thing away from this, I hope that you will understand the importance of journaling. It has quite literally changed my life and my outlook on life. As a matter of fact, I’ve written about it several times over the years. Read 7 Reasons to Start a Self-Esteem Journal, or this story on how journaling brought me to the Marquis Who’s Who, and My Romance With a Journal, and of course how it brought me to be a published author with my book, Stories For My Grandchild: A Grandmother’s Journal.

Looking Back

Looking back on the ten-year journey of starting a business in my 60s, with no professional experience as a writer or an internet geek, (though now I know how being tech savvy is important at every age!) seems like an insane idea. I have to give myself credit because when I started writing in a journal, I had no idea that a company would be born. My journaling was nothing more than a new hobby.

“Ten years later, I understand that writing in a journal, in an authentic voice, opens one’s mind to a world of self-knowledge and growth. This is the first lesson I want to leave in your head.” — Honey Good

The Story

I was in my sixties and bored with my busyness. I was looking for a new interest to light up my life. By chance, though nothing happens by accident, I started keeping a journal. It was that simple.

I believe that everything in life happens because of an inner need. In other words, nothing is accidental. From the time I was a child, my life was filled with fullness. I was always busy learning and doing because I was curious, optimistic, and loved a challenge. Over time, I learned to bloom where planted, no matter what life threw at me! I never said no. Looking back on my busyness, I can say to myself with a smile, “Each new experience created a new vision for my tomorrow.”

The journal started out as my private thoughts. Today, my Journal of authentic stories on many topics speaks to 250,000 women over the age of 50. How did that happen?

The Stranger

I am grateful to a stranger who took the time to advise me on how to move into a new passage of my life after 60. She was an author and a writer. She advised me to keep a private journal for three months, saying, “You will find your voice.” Darlings, I love drama, and her words hit me where I needed to be hit—in my heart. That day, I recall driving home singing, “I will find my voice!”

I believe, as you know, in serendipity, that nothing happens by accident. I followed the writer’s advice, and I did find my voice. My desire to follow her guidance of daily journaling for three months and never missing a day opened up a new world.  So, I set a goal for myself, I climbed the stairs, and I did it! My private thoughts became my friend as well as my critic. The daily ritual became very therapeutic. I must add, I allowed myself to show my vulnerabilities. I was authentic. Ten years later, I understand that writing in a journal, in an authentic voice, opens one’s mind to a world of self-knowledge and growth. This is the first lesson I want to leave in your head.

The Second Lesson

The second lesson I want to leave in your head is realizing you can learn something new, even when it’s difficult, outside your comfort zone after the age of fifty. I did it after the age of 60! This happens through desire, consistency, optimism, and living your life without fears. Fear is a killer. Your age is just a number. It’s on your side. You are wiser! Remember, it’s never too late to fill your cup.

Back to My Story

After I completed three months of journaling, my closest friend, Gail, who read my stories, advised me to share them with women our age. She said, “You should put your stories on the Internet. Women will relate to them.” Truth be told, I was shocked and said, “The Internet! I don’t know anything about the Internet.” Nevertheless, curiosity, optimism, and the love of a challenge got the best of me, and my journaling went from hobby mode into business mode. I became excited about the idea of giving back.

Journaling

In my opinion, daily journaling looks and feels like a labyrinth. You don’t know how to start, and you don’t know the finish. Remember, journaling begins as a maze of tangled thoughts that eventually lead the writer to her answer. When you live into that answer, it’s an ‘ah-ha’ moment of jubilation because journaling your intimate thoughts takes you into the realm of personal well-being and authenticity.

How Journaling Fills My Cup

I no longer moan about a situation for months. I do something about it. 

Simply put, it’s changed my life. Journaling:

• Checks in with my consciousness
• Nurtures my creativity 
• Nurtures my preferences
• Clears my mind
• Opens one’s private thoughts
• Is full of emotional surprises
• Calms a restless spirit
• Is a self-nurturing ritual
• Opens my eyes to what I love, not what I hear, read, or what is trending 

The greatest gift a woman can achieve through journaling is the understanding of her true authenticity.

Age Is Just a Number

I realized I could learn something new, even when it’s difficult, after the age of 60. I was wiser in my 60s than in my 40s and 50s. So are you! The workings of the internet were foreign to me. I had to push myself outside of my comfort zone to learn, and, oh my, how many times I cried out of frustration and fell on my face in failure. I can’t count. But a voice inside said, “Pick yourself up and start all over again. You can’t give up!” Ten years later, I am a worldly woman in so many areas because of my tenacity, curiosity, optimism, and desire to learn. Fear stops growth.

On an Emotional Note — My Gratitude Journal

Journaling has opened the windows of my world. After five years of daily authentic writing, I woke up to the realization that I had been my own shrink! My writings clarified my growing-up years, the importance of my Jewish heritage, feelings about my parents and wonderful relatives; grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and their positive impact they had on a young girl growing up. 

I analyzed my first marriage, my relationship with my children, becoming a mother-in-law and grandmother in a blended family, my downturns, my poor choices, my bouts with Cancer, my disappointments from friends and family, widowhood, the deaths of my parents and our beloved pooch, Orchid.

My life, like yours, had high hills and sorrowful valleys. But one thing is certain: I am a grateful woman because my authentic journaling has taught me lessons. I have learned to turn denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and, most importantly, confusion into clarity. 

I love life with all its pitfalls because I can see clearer now. The past ten years of my life have been a transformative process. Turning the hobby of journaling into a company in my sixties, Honey Good, has been an uphill exploration of all areas and senses of life. It has been a joy. To all of you, I am grateful to have you in my life. I am wiser. I am a woman! Hear my roar! Amen.