I’m 68, Retired — And My Dreams Are Getting Bigger, Not Smaller
I thought retirement was supposed to be the part where I slowed down.
You know the picture.
Sleep in. Have coffee. Put your feet up. Travel a little. Garden. Spend time with the grandkids. Finally enjoy all those years you worked so damn hard for.
And listen, I want those things too.
Well… except maybe the sleeping-in part.
My internal clock apparently signed a lifetime contract with 5 a.m.
But here’s what I didn’t expect.
I retired in 2022 thinking I was closing one chapter of my life.
Instead, I apparently opened about twelve more.
Now I’m 68 years old, retired, drinking my coffee before most reasonable people are awake, working on a website, making YouTube videos, writing stories, figuring out Pinterest, building affiliate income, growing a newsletter and coming up with more ideas than I have hours in the day.
And lately I’ve caught myself thinking:
Who the hell do I think I am?
But maybe that’s the wrong question.
Maybe the real question is:
Why the hell did I ever think getting older meant I was supposed to dream smaller?
I Thought I Was Already a Dreamer
I’ve always been a planner girl.
Give me a planner, some pens and a blank page and I’m happy.
I’ve planned my entire adult life.
Work schedules.
Bills.
Appointments.
Kids.
Groceries.
Vacations.
Goals.
Things that absolutely had to get done and things I hoped I’d eventually get around to.
For a lot of women, especially women of my generation, that’s what planning looked like for decades.
We weren’t always sitting around asking ourselves:
What do I want my life to look like?
We were asking:
What needs to get done today?
There’s a difference.
When you’re raising kids, working, paying bills and taking care of everybody around you, sometimes your own dreams don’t disappear.
They just get moved farther down the list.
I’ll get to that later.
Someday.
When the kids are older.
When work settles down.
When there’s more money.
When there’s more time.
And then suddenly…
later shows up.
Then I Retired
I retired on March 3, 2022.
I could have decided that was it.
I worked.
I raised my family.
I did what I was supposed to do.
Now it was time to sit back and enjoy retirement.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that kind of retirement if that’s what makes you happy.
But apparently, it wasn’t enough for me.
I still wanted to build something.
I still wanted to learn.
I still wanted to create.
I still wanted to see what I was capable of doing.
And that’s how Gigi Unfiltered started becoming more than just something I did to keep myself busy.
This Was Supposed to Be a Little Retirement Thing
That’s the funny part.
I didn’t sit down one morning with some giant business plan.
I started talking.
About getting older.
Retirement.
Money.
Clothes.
Family.
Grief.
Starting over.
The stuff women our age actually think about but don’t always say out loud.
Then came YouTube.
Then the website.
Then Pinterest.
Then Amazon.
Then affiliate programs.
Then the newsletter.
One thing led to another, and somewhere along the way I stopped thinking:
This is a fun little retirement project.
And started thinking:
Wait a minute. What could this actually become?
That’s when something shifted.
Because I realized I had been dreaming…
but I was still putting an age-appropriate ceiling on the dream.
Apparently, I Wasn’t Dreaming Big Enough
There it was.
That little invisible voice.
Be realistic, Gigi.
You’re retired.
You’re 68.
Don’t expect too much.
Don’t make the goal too big.
This is supposed to be fun.
And yes, it is fun.
But why does fun mean it can’t also become something substantial?
Why can’t I build something at 68?
Why can’t I have financial goals?
Why can’t I want a million Pinterest impressions?
Why can’t I grow a business?
Why can’t I create something today that is bigger two years from now than it is right now?
Why can’t I look five years ahead?
Who decided there was an expiration date on ambition?
Because I sure as hell don’t remember agreeing to one.
I Have Something at 68 That I Didn’t Have at 30
Experience.
Lots and lots of it.
I’ve worked since I was 14 years old.
I’ve raised children.
I’ve had careers.
I’ve loved people.
I’ve lost people.
I’ve screwed things up.
I’ve started over.
I’ve survived things I thought would break me.
I’ve learned that sometimes you know the answer long before you’re willing to trust yourself.
And I’ve learned that life can change very quickly.
At 30, I had time.
At 68, I have perspective.
And I think perspective might be even more valuable.
Because I understand something now that I didn’t understand when I was younger:
Someday isn’t guaranteed.
So if there’s something I want to try, why would I keep waiting?
Real Life Still Walks Through the Door
Building something after retirement doesn’t mean I suddenly have unlimited time.
Life doesn’t work that way.
My mom recently fell and broke her shoulder.
BigDog and I have been taking shifts helping her while she recovers.
Suddenly my carefully planned schedule wasn’t so carefully planned anymore.
There I was on my mama’s couch with my laptop, trying to balance being her daughter and helping take care of her while still wanting to work on the business I’m building.
And yes, I struggled with that.
Because this business matters to me.
My family matters to me.
Both are true.
I’m finally learning that wanting something of my own doesn’t mean I love my family any less.
And loving my family doesn’t mean I have to stop wanting something for myself.
Maybe balance isn’t about giving everything equal time.
Maybe it’s about knowing what needs you right now without completely losing yourself in the process.
My Planner Looks Different These Days
I’m still a planner girl.
That’s probably never changing.
But my planner isn’t just filled with things I have to do anymore.
It’s also filled with things I want to do.
Ideas.
Numbers.
Goals.
Content plans.
Things I want to learn.
Things I want to build.
Things that scare me a little.
And yes, some ideas that may turn out to be complete crap.
That’s okay.
I’m writing them down anyway.
Because somewhere along the way, my planner stopped being just a place where I managed my responsibilities.
It became a place where I started designing what’s next.
That’s a pretty big change.
Maybe Retirement Isn’t the Finish Line
I think that’s one of the biggest lies we’ve been sold about getting older.
That life has this predictable trajectory.
You grow.
You build.
You work.
You achieve.
Then eventually you retire and begin winding everything down.
But what if you don’t feel like winding down?
What if you’re just getting interested in something new?
What if you finally have the confidence to try something you wouldn’t have attempted at 40?
What if the woman you are at 65 or 68 or 72 is actually better equipped to chase the damn dream than the woman you were at 30?
Nobody talks enough about that.
We’re so busy talking about what women lose as we age that we forget to talk about what we gain.
Experience.
Perspective.
Confidence.
A much lower tolerance for bullshit.
And maybe most importantly:
The realization that we ain’t got time to wait.
So Yes, I’m Dreaming Bigger
I don’t know exactly how big Gigi Unfiltered will become.
I don’t know which ideas will work.
I don’t know which ones will fall flat on their ass.
I don’t know what this business will look like when I’m 70.
But here’s what I do know.
I’m not going to decide it can’t become something big simply because of my age.
I’m going to keep learning.
Keep writing.
Keep making videos.
Keep experimenting.
Keep opening that planner and writing down goals that make me wonder if I’ve lost my damn mind.
Because maybe I haven’t lost my mind.
Maybe I finally stopped asking permission.
I’m 68.
I’m retired.
And somehow my dreams are getting bigger instead of smaller.
Good.
It’s about damn time.
Don’t let your age determine the size of your dreams.
You ain’t got time to wait.
If You’d Like to Support Gigi Unfiltered
I’m going to keep writing these stories, sharing what I’m learning, and talking about what life after 60 really looks like — the good, the messy, and everything in between.
If something I wrote made you laugh, made you think, or made you feel a little less alone, and you’d like to support what I’m building here, you can buy me a coffee.
And if coffee isn’t your thing, reading, commenting, sharing a post, or sending Gigi Unfiltered to another woman who might need it means just as much.
Thanks for being here. 🖤
— Gigi
