Four years ago this month, I had a dream.
Not the I-have-a-dream kind of dream. An actual, middle-of-the-night dream that planted an idea in my mind: What if there were a place devoted to encouraging and equipping women over 60 to live our best lives?
I didn’t know exactly what that would look like. In fact, when I first discussed the idea with friends, one of them asked what I hoped to accomplish with the Best-Life Project. I didn’t have a particularly good answer.
“I am just doing what I feel God is telling me to do,” I told her.
That was really about all I knew.
I’ve told the whole story in my Best-Life Dream Story, but the short version is that the dream wouldn’t leave me alone. Eventually, it became the Best-Life Project.
Watching an Idea Become Something Real
A few months after we launched the website in February 2023, I wrote a piece simply called Post #50. We were only 113 days old, and I was amazed that we had already published 50 articles from 18 different contributors. People from around the world were finding us. Our Facebook following was growing. Readers were commenting and sharing.
I still didn’t really know what the Best-Life Project would become. I was simply delighted that it was becoming.
Now, four years after that original dream, I have a little more perspective.
Some things have happened exactly as I imagined. Some haven’t. And some things have surprised me.
Perhaps one of the nicest surprises is discovering that people are out there reading even when I don’t know they’re there.
Recently, a woman I’d had lunch with sent me a message: “Thanks for sharing this. I am enjoying reading the blogs.”
Another wrote after reading a post, “Great read! Love this group! Thank you for being obedient and following your God-given dream.” Then she added something that especially caught my attention: “I keep saying I’m going to write something….. don’t count me out.”
Messages like those mean more to me than the people who send them probably realize. They remind me that the Best-Life Project reaches women I may never hear from—and that some of those women may have stories of their own waiting to be told.
What I’ve Learned About Our Contributors
When I first imagined the Best-Life Project, I thought finding contributors might be the easy part. My mother and I had spent years through CLASSeminars helping people develop their gifts as speakers and writers. I knew so many talented women with experiences, wisdom and ideas worth sharing.
What I’ve learned is that a community of contributors doesn’t necessarily mean the same women writing month after month, year after year.
People contribute for a season. Lives change. Some women contribute once. Some share many pieces. Some step away and may circle back again. I’m grateful for every person who has entrusted the Best-Life Project with something she—or occasionally he—believed was worth sharing.
I’ve also become less interested in finding “writers” and more interested in finding women who have something worth saying.
You may have one story in you. That’s enough.
Maybe you’ve learned something about friendship at this age. Maybe you’ve started something you never expected to start, survived something difficult, changed your mind about something, discovered a new purpose—or done something for no better reason than because it sounded like fun.
Those are Best-Life stories.
And if you’re sitting quietly on the sidelines thinking, I have something I could say, but I’m not really a writer, please don’t let that stop you. We can help with the editing. We’re not trying to make every contributor sound alike. We’re trying to help each woman communicate what only she can bring.
There are also subjects I’d particularly love to see us explore more. Organization, décor and fashion come immediately to mind. You don’t need to be a professional organizer, interior designer or fashion expert. Perhaps you’ve finally figured out what to do with 40 years of accumulated stuff. Maybe you’ve changed the way your home works for this season of your life. Maybe you’ve discovered how you want to dress now—not how someone says a woman “your age” should dress.
Tell us about it.
The Best-Life Project Is Becoming, Too
Over these four years, the Best-Life Project has been finding its own voice.
We’ve become increasingly interested not simply in what women over 60 need to know, but in what women who have already lived a lot of life know—and what we can learn from one another.
That’s why you’ll see more of our articles growing out of personal experiences. Something happened. Something changed. Something was tried, survived, discovered or learned.
We aren’t looking for women who have all the answers. We’re interested in women willing to say, Here’s what happened to me. Maybe there’s something in my experience that will speak to yours.
You may have noticed some visual changes around here, too. We’re developing a more recognizable look for the Best-Life Project, and with each new article we’ve begun creating what we call a mirror quote—a graphic built around one thought we hope will stay with you after you’ve finished reading.
Maybe it’s something you’ll actually want to print and tape to your bathroom mirror as a reminder. Or maybe the mirror is only figurative—a thought worth carrying with you, sharing with a friend or returning to when you need it.
Because ultimately, I don’t just want you to read a Best-Life article. I hope something in it goes with you.
The Road Ahead Still Matters
One thought has increasingly come to express what I believe the Best-Life Project is becoming:
The road ahead still matters.
At this stage of life, it’s easy to measure ourselves by what’s behind us—what we’ve accomplished, whom we’ve raised, where we’ve worked, what we’ve built, what we’ve lost, even who we used to be.
But what about what’s still ahead?
There are still things to learn. People to meet. Places to go. Friendships to deepen. Ways to serve. Reasons to laugh. Things to anticipate. New things to try.
There are still firsts ahead.
And if the road ahead still matters, then so do the stories of the women traveling it.
That’s where you come in.
Maybe you’ll contribute an article. Maybe you’ll read one and leave a comment that encourages its author. Maybe you’ll share a post because you know another woman who needs it. Maybe you’ll tell a friend about the Best-Life Project. Maybe you’ll invite someone whose story ought to be here to tell it.
That’s how an online community becomes a community—not simply through what gets published, but through what happens after we put it out into the world.
Four years ago, I didn’t know exactly what the Best-Life Project would become.
I still don’t.
And I’ve decided that’s a good thing.
Because four years later, the Best-Life Project is still becoming. And so are we.
The road ahead still matters.
Let’s see where it takes us.
New to The Best-Life Project?
Please read these foundational posts:
Read More from This Author:
Marita Littauer Tedder is founder of The Best-Life Project, where she encourages women to embrace the sweet spot where health, time, and resources intersect. A former professional speaker and author of 20 books, she believes some of life’s richest years begin after sixty. Through stories of friendship, reinvention, travel, and everyday courage, she invites readers to become the very best version of themselves. Marita and her husband, Chuck, live in Lubbock, Texas.
Hi Marita, I’ve been getting your email blogs and love it! I attended several of your CLASS conferences with your Mom. The 2 of you were having one in San Antonio Texas and I wanted to go but husband said no to $125. Lol but your Mom was speaking before our Sunday night church service in the chapel. I went alone, on the way I was talking to God telling Him well I guess I’m too old and will never become a writer! However during the talk you’re Mom was giving “Don’t die with the music still in you” all of a sudden she stopped in the middle of a sentence and pointed in my direction and it seemed like a bright light just between us was shining , she said “Don’t ever think you’re too old! I didn’t start until I was 50! She immediately went back to what she was teaching on. I looked down at the brochure and saw the next CLASS was in Colorado Springs and I knew I was supposed to go! When I went home that night, I ran in the house practically shouting telling my husband, “I know what God wants me to be! A Writer! And I’m supposed to go to CLASS in Colorado.” He said if we can’t afford it here what makes you think we can go there? He said it would take at least a $1,000. To go. I wasn’t working but I said “ if $1, 000 comes into this house with my name on it can we go? He said sure! I got up every day expecting it. We got a call about a week later from a furniture store that I had put my name in a drawing and they said I was the grand prize winner of $3,000. Of new furniture, I thought oh this is it! I looked around but told them I didn’t really need anything so I would take the cash! Of course they were horrified and said no furniture only! I told them I would think about it and then called my sister to ask if she knew the company if it was good furniture. She said oh yes she had wanted a sofa from there but her husband said no because it was $3,000. I said well would he agree to a $1,000. She had the tag with ID number on it. Husband agreed she sent me $1,000. I called the furniture company and they said they had it in the warehouse and would ship wherever I wanted so I had them ship to a store only 50 miles from my sister so they could pick it up. We went to Colorado and it was miracle after miracle ❤️. During the whole trip. May God richly bless you Marita
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story!
So, Sue, what I kept expecting to read here is that you’re thinking of a few ideas that you could write for the best life project! I love your story. Thank you!
I love what you wrote about “the road ahead still matters “ There are still things to learn. People to meet. Places to go. Friendships to deepen. Ways to serve. Reasons to laugh. Things to anticipate. New things to try. This is mirror posting material!
I will think about what I could write, that would be such an honor.
I’d love that!
Hi Marita,
Because of some of these inspiring blogs, I have been trying new things this year. So much so that I am behind responding to this incredible post. But, I do thank you for the sneak peak. I am so grateful for the wisdom shared, the sometimes raw feelings on difficult issues for our age group, and the joyful stories. Thank you for the privilege of being a small part and for all you have done to make this spot a wonderful reprieve. Women, now more than EVER, need encouragement and the authenticity here is special. Every day I wake up, I am thankful for the road ahead… one minute at a time. Let’s carry on!!!!