The Real Danger Isn’t Failure. It’s Standing Still.
Sick and tired of business colleagues not moving forward, I started playing a game.
When people kept answering “what’s new?” with “my sneakers,” I knew we had a problem.
So I started playing a game.
At networking events, I’d ask other entrepreneurs, What’s new?
They would look down at their feet, mumble something while they searched for an answer, then say, “my sneakers,” and laugh at their own joke.
Sometimes, I’d follow up with something more specific, “Didn’t you start a new marketing campaign last month? How is it going?”
Too often, they’d admit it never got off the ground.
I believe that’s one of the main reasons I started coaching business owners. I was tired of watching smart, capable people stuck in place—unhappy, and often broke, if not broken.
The real danger here isn’t failure.
It’s staying the same.
As my friend and colleague Jerry Keszka from Plus 50 Forward so aptly says:
“That’s a real danger—waking up 5, 10, or 20 years from now in the exact same place, wondering what could have been.”
Is that our legacy?
Claiming a legacy wasn’t on my radar until I considered giving up my desert container gardening educational platform.
I wondered: Am I done?
And where might you already be moving forward, even if it doesn’t look dramatic from the outside?
Signs You Might Be Standing Still:
After giving it some real thought, I realized I hadn’t left behind a complete resource that could live on after me.
So I created one. A second book.
Now that it’s done, I find myself asking again: What else?
After writing that second gardening book, Riley’s Garden Oasis, as creative fiction, I fell in love with writing the fictional sections.
A conversation with an author friend changed everything. She said simply, “So write fiction!”
That gentle nudge was all I needed to dive into authorship feet first—and here I am. The first novel is almost ready for Amazon release, after being serialized on Substack.
But one book isn’t enough.
Women of the Canyon is now a five-book series, each one focused on a woman seeking her next chapter. These stories are meant to entertain and inspire women in their later life—especially those longing for friendship, purpose, and growth.
Could I have done this 20 years ago?
Probably not. I was on a different path—focused on financial gain—and publishing is a long road.
But now, the question is different:
Am I standing still?
I’m an optimistic realist. I always believe there’s a way.
And my characters believe that too.
Each one is making a conscious choice to move forward.
They’re all over 60, except for Riley. And none of them are resting on their laurels or playing endless hands of solitaire.
Yes, some are still searching. Like Val—who’s embracing this stage of life with grit and enthusiasm. Her deeper journey begins in Book 3.
Raven and Skylar are looking at legacy and what comes next.
In Book One, Whispers of Echo Canyon, Raven develops a horse-and-rider training facility after years of traveling the world, working with horses and their owners using a blend of psychological methods and native Sabakari teachings.
Skylar, a world-traveling archeologist and one of the first Black women in her field, is now settling in. She’s written a memoir reflecting on her Alzheimer’s diagnosis and the students she continues to mentor. Her story will be featured in Book Four.
These women aren’t standing still.
They’re taking risks, trying new things, becoming.
But this isn’t just about them.
The question echoes louder when we turn it inward.
Where might you be standing still?
And where might you already be moving forward, even if it doesn’t look dramatic from the outside?
Signs You Might Be Standing Still:
• You keep telling the same story about your life, year after year.
• You wait for a “better time” that never seems to come.
• You feel restless but don’t act on it.
• You cling to routines that feel safe but no longer feel alive.
• You say “someday” more often than “today.”
Signs You’re Moving Forward:
• You try something before you feel fully ready.
• You say yes to small opportunities that stretch you.
• You feel nervous or excited about what’s ahead.
• You stop asking for permission to change.
• You choose curiosity over comfort.
Don’t Stand Still.
Maybe the biggest change doesn’t start with a grand plan.
Maybe it starts with one small choice not to stand still—today.
Maybe it starts with one sunrise.
And choosing, each day, not to stay the same.
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