“I Wish I Had This Illness in My Forties”

Author

Ed Clementi
May 05, 2025

I’ve been working with someone new.
We’ve only had a few sessions together so far.
And like I often do early on, I gave him a simple assignment:
Put together a short presentation that tells me who you are, what you’ve lived, and where you want to go.

It’s not about slides.
It’s about reflection.
A way to look in the mirror — and give me a better view too.

When we met again, he walked me through what he put together.
It was honest.
It was thoughtful.
It was personal.

But one slide in particular caught me — and hasn’t left me since.

Correcting the Course

It was titled:
“Correcting the Course.”

And it began with a short line about his father.
It said:

“My late father is my model. On his last days, he told me: ‘I wish I had this illness in my forties.’”

I stopped.
Reread it.
And sat with it for a moment, even as he continued with the presentation.
And as my client will recall…, I stopped him and asked if we could talk about that line a bit more.

Words That Hit Different

We’ve all heard the phrases before.
Be present.
Live in the now.
Time is precious.

But this wasn’t that.

This was real.
This was lived.
And it landed differently.

That line wasn’t about pain, or illness, or regret.
It was about perspective.
The kind that shows up when everything else fades to the background and you finally see things clearly.

His father, even in his final chapter, was still teaching.
Still offering something valuable.
And what he passed along to his son was a simple, powerful idea:

Don’t delay what matters.
Live as best you can, while you can.

Why It Landed So Hard For Me

The more I sat with that sentence, the more it hit me.

Because if you really think about it, it’s not about illness at all.
It’s about timing.
And what earlier clarity could’ve opened up.

In your forties, you’re in it.
Busy.
Maybe raising a family.
Maybe building a career.
Maybe juggling both.

You feel like time is on your side — and maybe it is.
But it’s easy to coast through those years thinking you’ll get to the important stuff later.

The quiet moments.
The big conversations.
The small things that add up to a life you’re proud of.

But some of those things don’t wait.
They change.
They pass.
They grow up.
They move on.

That line from his father?
It wasn’t a complaint.
It was a gift.
A reflection he chose to share so that his son — and now, maybe the rest of us — wouldn’t put off what deserves our attention now.

A Line That Lingers

After that session, I kept thinking about it.
Because I’ve heard a lot of lessons in this work.
But some stay with you longer than others.

And what struck me most was how unexpected it was —
how one quiet slide, in one honest presentation, ended up being one of the most powerful things I’ve heard in a long time.

It brought a familiar concept — the value of time — to a deeper place.

So Let Me Ask You

What are you assuming you’ll get back later… that might already be slipping away?

Not in fear.
Not in panic.
But with purpose.

Because the gift in that quote is this:
You don’t have to wait for clarity to find you.
You can choose it now.
You can correct the course, now.

While you’re in it.
While it counts.
While the people and moments that matter most are still right here.

With Absolute Sincerity,

Ed Clementi, Founder & CEO of Inspired Fire, LLC

Make an Impact and Feel an Impact.