The Girl Who Still Knows How to Fly

On reclaiming wonder, creativity, and desire in midlife

When I was five years old, my parents took me to see a stage production of Peter Pan. In my childlike wonder, something inside me became energized as I watched the characters come to life. It made me feel something I did not yet have words for. All I knew was that I wanted to be on a stage like that, making others feel what I felt.

But there were no adults aware that it could be their job to notice my aspirations and unique qualities. I can’t blame them; they were focused on their lives and surviving their own adulting.

I have always been deeply moved by art that evokes emotion. I wanted to be someone who impacted others in positive and meaningful ways. I wanted to shine a light. But I had no idea how to make that happen. I was unsure of myself and not confident enough to say it out loud. So I kept my creative world inside myself, thinking I didn’t have what it took.

I did the next best thing I could, which was to become a patron of the arts and to give my daughters the openness to explore their art, their desires, and their creativity, which they did.

I find it humorous that it was Peter Pan who came to me at that young age. Peter Pan represents that part of us that refuses to abandon wonder, not because we are immature, but because wonder is how we stay alive and activated.

He isn’t the boy who wouldn’t grow up. He is the soul that wouldn’t go numb.

We, as women, often shelve the desires and dreams born of our youth to pursue marriage, build families, build careers, and care for others. These desires get buried, but they never go away. They lie dormant, waiting for the time when we make ourselves center stage again, when we lean into the excitement of what passions we can develop.

This often happens for women in midlife. And it can most certainly be our Peter Pan moment, not to take us backward but to bring us forward into ourselves. It is where our freedom, imagination, and audacity become activated.

This is where we return to Neverland, not as escapism but as remembrance. Here, we are ready to revisit a dream, a desire, something that might not yet have words, but exists as a felt sense.

So my story here is not only about Peter Pan. It is about the symbolic doorway into each of our truths. It is about reclaiming a true desire, giving ourselves permission to want and create, exploration after duty, art after survival, flight after gravity. It means making time to remember yourself before adulthood swallows you up.

What if you realized your soul’s desire is still here, ready to dream, create, and become? You don’t need a stage. You are the stage. A mover of life, expressing love, compassion, and truth. And something inside you is saying, “Wake up.” Wake up to her.

She doesn’t care what others think. She flies high and low, gathers hard-earned wisdom, and stays humble enough to know there is always more.

We all deserve to revisit our dreams, not only from innocence, but from experience, bringing the fullness of our lives into this moment now.

This time, let’s have fun. Let’s not tell that five-year-old that she can’t be an actress. Let’s get serious about what our joy is, how we are helping our fellow humans, and what we love about ourselves and our lives.

Your dream is as unique as you are. Nobody gets to tell you you can’t have it.
Go hang out in Neverland. I’ll see you there.