I’m getting invited to a lot of 50th birthday parties these days. Not that I’m yet 50, of course, but it’s looming large in my future. What is most striking to me about these events is how young fifty seems now that I’m knocking on the door. I remember when fifty was old. Period. People in their fifties were old. Worn out. Worn down by life. Done with having fun. And most dreaded, middle-aged. But now that I’m here, I see it just ain’t so.
Take my friend’s 50th birthday bash last night for example. I defy any of you to look at the picture above a pick the 50th birthday girl. I mean, ladies, we are looking good, if I do say so myself. Pictured above with pals who are decades younger, I say we are holding our own!
Plastic surgery, Botox and make-up generally have enabled many humans to look years younger than they really are, but I think there is something bigger at work here. A new understanding of what it is to be fifty and what it does and doesn’t mean. Not about how you look but about who you are being.
For one thing, I now dance like no one is watching. Maybe it has been too many years of sitting in the back, not wanting anyone to see me jiggle on the dance floor, not willing to have people to really look at me. But that phase is over and it is time for dancing –whenever and wherever I feel like it. That goes along with the second big shift which is that the outside world’s perception of me is far, far less important than ever. I won’t say I don’t care what people think, but I have began to understand that it really doesn’t matter to my life what other people think. That is really freeing. The final change may be the biggest. I realize that I won’t live forever and I don’t want to squander the finite moments of my life anymore. If I can do something for someone today, I’ll do it. If I can take a trip or go on an adventure, I’m trying to do it. Now. Why not?
Best of all, when I live fully right now, life becomes so much more joyous and free.
Boonedoggler 