Growing old isn’t particularly good fun. You start coming to terms with your limitations in a very real way, responsibilities get in the way, and your health becomes your biggest concern and obstacle. So, it’s always a pleasant surprise to find out that the turning ticking clock doesn’t hold everyone down.

There are always those free spirits, rebels, and dreamers who won’t let their minds be dithered by something as arbitrary as aging. One such rebel is the almost 80-year-old Betty John, who took to the skies and took a leap of faith to find her way back down. John almost lost her ability to walk a few years ago but has bounced back with a spring in her step after getting back her ability to dream.

Turning Back Time

Rewind to 2020. Betty was severely sick and weak. She even claimed she was dodging sleep due to the fear of potentially never waking up ever again. As she was 0n vacation, she reached out to the hotel doctor who could not diagnose her illness. He simply declared that Betty was “near death,” admitting he did not know how to help her.

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Somehow, Betty was rushed back to Canada, where she spent the next three months hospitalized for COVID-19. She was rife with severe symptoms from long COVID-19. Still, she found the strength to carry on with the determination she had previously channeled to staying sober for over eight years. Betty, a devout believer, prayed for the grace to accept the things she could not have changed while asking for the courage to change the things she could.

Now, after 90% of her symptoms have subsided, she had the heart to jump out of a plane for the first time in her life.

How Betty John Defied Her Age

Betty John jumped out of an airborne plane at Skydive Vancouver Island for a COVID research fundraiser at the BC Women’s Health Foundation. John, who has been married thrice, also lived out her dream to make the jump in a wedding dress. “I wish my husbands could see me now!” Betty said with a smile before making her age-defying jump.

“Live for today,” is Betty John’s mantra. She says, that regardless of age, the key to being unforgettable is helping yourself and others. “You can do whatever your heart wants to do. But do it before it’s too late,” Betty says. “Don’t think twice. Just do it.”

We could definitely all afford to take a page out of Betty’s book and live in the moment. While growing is physically demanding, thriving mentally is always an option. And as long as you believe you’re capable of something, there’s very little to keep you from achieving it.

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