“So how long have you been doing this?” I asked Shelly, a 91-year old man, as I cast my gaze over the dozens of his intricate wooden sculptures that lined the shelves in his independent-living apartment.
I was a local TV reporter at the time, assigned to cover the story of a nonagenarian wood carver who teaches classes introducing his craft to kids in park district classes. His home was like a personal museum, each creation on display was the work of a master artist with eye-catching details – the stubble of a cowboy’s five o’clock shadow, the feathers on a hummingbird, and the flowing folds of a dancer’s dress.
“I started when I was 75, so just about 16 years now.”
I think about Shelly a lot. It’s inspiring to see that you can choose to pick up a new hobby at any point in your life. If there’s ever been something you’ve dreamed of doing, and you have the ability to try it, you can try it. If you keep at it long enough, you might even become an expert.
That said, it’s probably a bad idea to wait until you’re 75 to pick up a new hobby if you can avoid it. Not all of us will be so lucky as to be in good health at that age.
No, the best time to pursue something new is right now.