Thoughts on Turning 50

Well, its all over.  A couple of days ago, I turned 50.  Yes, I endured the black balloons, the box of bran flakes, the sympathy card, the fire extinguisher jokes, etc., etc.  At the end of the day, I found myself sitting in the recliner watching election returns and enjoying being just who I am.

 

I have to be honest, I have had a very difficult time with this particular age transition.  I've been through a range of emotion from "I haven't accomplished what I thought I would have...," to "50? Really?," to "this 50 thing ain't so bad," back to "50? Really?"  Even though I struggled some with turning 30, I didn't really mind turning 40, but 50, well, that kind of threw me for a loop.  Don't really know why, just did.  So after some reflection and some chance encounters with some friends and family, this is how I made it through.
Looking back, I've spent 50 years being a son, nearly 46 being a big brother, over 24 years being married and over 17 years being a dad.  I have a beautiful loving wife, two beautiful daughters, a support network second to none, a successful business, a wonderful office team, just to name a few.

While I was struggling with the "I haven't accomplished what I thought I would have..." emotion, a dear friend and mentor had me do a quick balance sheet.  That exercise put into perspective just how fortunate and blessed I truly am.

Also during this transition, I scheduled an appointment with my medical professional, also a great friend. This visit helped to find out the emotions being felt were entirely normal.  She ran some tests, checked the vitals and told me that everything was just fine.  Apparently, contrary to popular belief, I'm about as normal as you can get.  Normal blood pressure, normal cholesterol, normal weight, normal aches and pains...actually, I guess I'm a little boring. A little insomnia, but nothing to get terribly excited about.  If you're facing a crisis in age transition, I highly recommend such an appointment as it will put your mind at ease.

Another thing I did was re-join the gym.  Tommorrow will be my first workout.  Starting out slow, and working back up to three times a week.  I have been assured, and know from past experience, that my energy level will increase as the gym time increases.  I even asked another friend who is a personal trainer, to write me a professional work-out schedule.  It is progressive, but not too aggressive and I am eager to get started.

So what's left in this transition?   Well, that's pretty simple.  Get on with the getting on of life.  Even though I don't have any intentions of writing a "bucket list" anytime soon, I would like to turn the following into habits:
(1) Spend more time with my wife and daughters.  Its just something that I really would like to do;
(2) Take time to stop and smell the roses;  I spend way too much time taking way too many things way too seriously.  Most of the things that I expend the most amount of energy and angst on aren't going to matter 6 months from now, much less 10 years from now;
(3) Exercise on a regular basis;
(4) Eat healthier;

So that's it.  The transition to the sixth decade of life is complete.  The goals are set and the plans are made.  There's no going back, that's for sure, and getting older sure beats the alternative.