Life is about adapting and changing. Those who realize this tend to be able to cope with life’s ups and downs and keep a happy balance.
Take the queen of rock n’ roll, Tina Turner, as an example. She’s 81, still happy, and feeling great!
In her new book, “Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life,” Turner reveals how her husband doesn’t require her to “dim her light” and how getting out of her comfort zone to be with him was a great decision.
She rebounded from an abusive marriage
In her new book, which will be released on December 8, the music legend recounts how a decade after leaving her abusive first husband, Ike Turner, she started dating Edwin Bach, a Swiss man 16 years her junior.
When they met, it was the mid-1980s and Turner was rushing through an airport in Germany with a lot on her mind. She was busy thinking about her concert tour and in a hurry to get to her hotel. Far too busy to pay attention to the young music executive who came to welcome her. Well, almost.
“But I did notice him, and I instantly felt an emotional connection,” she wrote in the book, as transcribed by People.
“Even then, I could have ignored what I felt — I could have listened to the ghost voices in my head telling me that I didn’t look good that day, or that I shouldn’t be thinking about romance because it never ends well. Instead, I listened to my heart.”
“I left my comfort zone and made it a priority to get to know Erwin. That simple first meeting led to a long, beautiful relationship — and my one true marriage.”
Tina Turner
A relationship with freedom
Today, Turner, 81, and Bach, 64, live in Zürich and are happily married. Turner attributes this to how Bach has taught her how “to love without giving up who I am.”
“We grant each other freedom and space to be individuals at the same time we are a couple.”
Tina Turner
Turner recounts that her husband was never intimidated by her career, her talents or her stardom.
“He shows me that true love doesn’t require the dimming of my light so that he can shine,” she continued. “On the contrary, we are the light of each other’s lives, and we want to shine as bright as we can, together.”
Bach has extended her quality of life
In 2017, Turner suffered kidney failure and was in need of a transplant to save her life. In her previous book, “My Love Story,” she revealed how her loving partner, Bach, was the person who donated one of his kidneys and saved her life.
“I’m happy to say that, thanks to my beloved husband, Erwin, giving me one of his kidneys, the gift of life, I’m in good health and loving life every day,” Turner writes in her latest book.
“I’m also thankful that I’ve not only survived, but thrived, so that I can pass on to you this book containing precious gifts that were given to me — the greatest gifts I can offer.”
Get out of your comfort zone
Turner is living proof that if you get out of your comfort zone in your relationships and your career, it can lead to sustained happiness.
“I really do believe that age is just a number, and I have never let age stand in my way,” Turner writes. “Not at 42, when people said that I was too old to be a rock star. And not now, in my eighties, when the book I dreamed of writing for decades is finally in your hands.”
Turner’s husband, Bach, didn’t prevent her from growing with neediness or pressure. Rather, he gave her the freedom to be herself and didn’t dim her light. And that’s something we can all learn to channel in our own relationships.
“I’ve passed 80, but I have not ‘arrived,’ because I still challenge myself to grow, to step out of my comfort zone, to improve my life, and to be of service to others,” Turner wrote.
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