This past week I have been travelling in Peru ahead of classes happening next week.

We decided to arrive a week early so that we could visit Machu Picchu, which has been on my bucket list for more than 10 years. I remember dreaming about it when I was staring my corporate career and wondering how I was ever going to a) afford to go there and b) find the time.

Let me tell you, 10 years, although it seems like a lifetime, zooms by so fast! I am sure many of you guys are well aware of that.

So this last week, while we hung around the Machu Picchu area, trying to acclimatise to the altitude, I couldn’t help but notice everyone else around me. If you have never been to Machu Picchu, getting there is quite a bit of a trek. It’s not really a place you can fly into, do an express tour and leave the next day.

What inspired me the most as I gasped for air every time I went up a hill or a flight of stairs were the number of older people who has also made the time to visit this amazing place. Some of them were twice my age and some even more. They had walking sticks, moved a little slower but at no point did they let anything get in their way as they, climbed the steep stairs, explored the ruins and cobbled streets. I hope when I grow up, I am as brave and as adventurous as they are.

I meet many people in class and online who tell me they wish they could be ‘this’ or do ‘that’ but they are ‘just too old’. I admit, I sometimes think that too. Not that I am ‘old’ but that it’s too late in my life to start ‘this’ or ‘that’. But I know it’s rubbish when I see people older than me who are fitter than me at the gym, or people who are physically injured but still find a way to decorate cakes or run on the treadmill.

I wish everyone could see what I saw this last week – you are NEVER too old. So please don’t let that reason get in your way of being fitter, starting a business, taking a class, going on an adventurous holiday or living your dream. I’m going to try not to let that reasoning creep into my head too.