It’s Never Too Late to Change

Kitty Pechet tells the story of her late-in-life journey to personal freedom.

If you met me today, you’d see a vibrant, exuberant, confident 80-year-old woman, an artist who works in sand, wire and wild colorful paint and who lives life the way it pleases her. I surf, create, teach, and spend time with friends and family. If you met me several years ago, though, you would think you were talking to a completely different person.

I grew up very restricted and lived a very restricted married life. It was almost as if I were a non-person. My mindset was, as I later described it, “living in a graph paper square.” My job was to shrink into the box of everyone else’s expectations. The picture of that previous Kitty may become clearer to you when I suggest that it was dangerous for a girl — and for me — to show up and shine.

I did have victories. I had calligraphy exhibits. I raised five children. But I felt invisible. Eventually, later in my life, heartache and difficulties caused me to ask myself powerful questions and let go of my “shoulds.” I even stretched into some rather extraordinary areas, winning surfing competitions in my 60’s and 70’s, and exhibiting my art widely, with great splashes of color on large-scale canvases in a range of venues and solo shows.

The “brave” woman inside me did emerge later in my life. But I never saw or absorbed success. In fact, there was something elusive that I was unable to see or fully experience, despite my accomplishments. But despite my hesitation, those later accomplishments that caught the attention of the TEDxBeaconStreet folks, who invited me to give a talk in November 2015, and that’s when things began to change.

Would it surprise you to know that the preparation and act of giving that talk was utterly transformative for me? I hope to share this transformation with you in this series, to encourage and inspire you, and remind you that it’s never too late to change.

To learn more about Kitty and her journey, to go parts two and three of her incredible story!