The Lie That Would Have Silenced C.S. Lewis

Write Your Story, No Matter Your Age

A few people have told me recently that I’m too old to be starting a new publication.

I turned 54 this last weekend…
I laugh, because… I fully believe I am just getting started!

Ageism is a problem in society, and it’s breaking the mentorship structure for leaders (writers, managers, innovators, or even Substack creators) between the older generations and the emerging generations… in real time.

I’ve watched younger leaders get held back because they were “too young”.
I’ve watched older leaders get pushed aside because they were “too old”.

Different labels, same outcome. The flywheel slows, mentorship fractures, and the transfer of wisdom and perspective gets interrupted because it creates division between these generations. And when that happens, people stop building. They stop creating. They stop writing their stories.

In this article, I want to expose how ageism quietly mutes generations to one another and show how both younger and older leaders can make room for one another again, so wisdom and fresh perspective get passed down… instead of pushed out… and so people have the courage to write their story… with a robust support system.

Was C.S. Lewis Too Old?

When a culture is always chasing young, it starts muting wisdom. And when a culture only trusts the old, it starts muting fresh vision.

When either gets muted, everyone pays for it and it stops them from building, creating, and writing their stories.

And that’s why I keep coming back to Narnia…

C.S. Lewis published The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when he was 51 and The Last Battle when he was 58… most of us would agree it worked out. He published TWENTY books total after the age of 50.

Here are eight amazing authors that wrote meaningfully in their 50s, 60s, and 70s!

This is just a small sample of amazing authors who wrote meaningful books well after the age of 50 and many of them didn’t publish anything before the age of 50.

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Was Charles Dickens too Young?

And I keep thinking about all the famous authors we would never know if they gave into such lies about being too young…

Charles Dickens was 24 when The Pickwick Papers took off. Mary Shelley published Frankenstein at 20. S.E. Hinton published The Outsiders at 18

Which is the point.
The lie changes depending on your season…
But it’s still the same lie.

C.S. Lewis had a name for the instinct underneath ageism. He called it “chronological snobbery,” meaning “the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate... and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is discredited.” Meaning, we don’t weigh ideas, people, or wisdom based on truth and fruit. We weigh them based on what feels current. And that is exactly how a healthy relay breaks. Older leaders get treated like they’re obsolete. Younger leaders get treated like they’re automatically ready. The flywheel slows because counsel stops transferring, perspective stops being trusted, and whole generations get muted.

When the right order breaks, the world goes cold. Momentum stalls. People stop making room for one another and it becomes “always winter and never Christmas” in the places that were meant to produce safety to create, build, and innovate.

Are You Ever the Right Age?

My wife and I have been part of a particular church denomination for over 30 years… and still are.

When we were young, we were often considered emerging leaders with a bright future, but too young to be senior or lead pastors. So, we kept showing up, serving, and not focused on position.

Then in our 40s, something shifted suddenly. The denomination became obsessed with young “emerging” leaders. And it felt like overnight, we were now considered too old. What made me even sadder was watching the pattern repeat. Older, faithful leaders who had been “emerging” for a decade were told their time had passed.

And here’s what this did to younger leaders too. Some of them were thrust into responsibility before their time, or at least without the council of the older generation. Not because they were bad people or lacked talent, but because the system started valuing the label “young” more than the process of becoming ready.

That is how everyone loses.

When those whispers in our ear make us start to believe the lies… it often stops us from doing the very thing we are called to do in the first place.

If you are called to lead then lead. If you are called to write then write.

Ready to Write Your Story?

Here is the real secret. You’re never the right age… so don’t give into the lie. The goalposts will keep moving, and if you wait for the world to approve your timing, you will be waiting forever.

Make room for someone older, and make room for someone younger, because God designed the relay to work between generations. Wisdom and fresh perspective were meant to strengthen each other, not compete.

And if you need a deeper anchor than motivation, here it is. God wove you together in your mother’s womb for something great. He did not make a mistake with your season, your story, or your timeline.

So do the thing you keep hesitating to do, with the support of others who will make you better and encourage you to take the next step… Write your story.