Quote of the Day: Beverly Sills on Aging & Wisdom

In the late 20th century, after Vietnam and Watergate, amid stagflation and a growing suspicion that institutions wouldn’t save us, American culture learned to speak more candidly about setbacks, aging, and limits. That candor feels newly urgent in 2026, when longer lives collide with faster change and the old promise of “control your destiny” meets reality. “In youth we run into difficulties. In old age difficulties run into us.”

The line lands because it refuses the sentimental version of struggle. When we’re young, difficulty often looks like a door we choose to push open: a risky job, an intense relationship, an ambitious craft, an opinion voiced before it’s fully formed. Youth is not problem-free; it’s problem-rich by design. You run toward friction because friction teaches you who you are, and what you can endure.

Then comes the pivot: later in life, difficulty stops waiting for permission. Health concerns, loss, and the slow arithmetic of time arrive with no application process. The quote doesn’t argue that aging is bleak; it argues that the direction of agency changes. The practical takeaway is quietly bracing: treat youthful hardships as training, not punishment. Build resilience early, habits of repair, honest friendships, financial buffers, and the ability to ask for help, because eventually trouble will not be a choice.

Beverly Sills knew the discipline of chosen difficulty: the relentless rehearsal, the public judgment, the high-wire precision of opera. Her career, and her influence beyond the stage, was a study in turning pressure into poise.

December 21 also marks the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, a calendrical reminder that the light returns only after it bottoms out. Apply the quote today by practicing courage on purpose, so when difficulties come looking, they find you already standing.