You Are Only Fifty
A strange thing happens when you turn fifty. It’s a conscious awareness that you are half-way through life. It creates a type of panic. But remember this, you are ONLY fifty.
When we turn forty it’s like OMG I’m getting OLD but we still feel like we have plenty of time to do everything.
When we turn fifty it’s like OMG I’m going to die soon. We know that we are on the downhill run of life. Worse still we don’t know how many years we have left. Getting up the hill is easier – we know we have years ahead of us. Now, we don’t know at ALL.
It’s easy to panic. Retirement is around the corner. We still have kids in school and we’re supporting them. We may still have our parents or our in-laws who require care.
There’s still stuff we want to do that we didn’t yet.
It’s OK. Take a breath with me.
There is still plenty of time, but you probably won’t get everything done that you wanted to.
I had a total meltdown when this hit me. I gathered all the shiny things I wanted to do and started doing everything like a mad woman. I started learning French and German, I learned to sculpt, I started ten other craft projects, I started writing (finishing) my books, I read everything on finance and how to retire because as you know if you’ve read anything else – I don’t have ANY retirement.
Then I watched a video by Gary V who I have followed since Wine Library. He was talking to a fan of his in his fifties. His advice? Flip a coin, focus on one thing and go all in.
This took me a while to accept. I still wanted to get everything done. I’m a high achiever so I figured I could get all the things done.
After a month of being a maniac I got totally overwhelmed and stressed out and had a true panic attack.
So I sat myself down and cut down the list. I picked five things to really focus on. Of those five things, I have given one day a week that I concentrate on just that thing – in my spare time.
This plan may still blow up in my face and I might still be forced to choose just one or two things but my goal is to really get these five things accomplished so I’m going to give it my best shot.
Also remember that some great businesses (KFC – Kentucky Fried Chicken) were started by a people in their sixties.
You have life’s experience to use to your advantage now. All the up and coming ‘entrepreneurs’ haven’t seen the economic and financial storms that we have. We can take that knowledge and build something that will survive these things. We can look back at our history and see what has worked, what hasn’t, what’s missing – for us. We still have at least 40 years to go if we continue to take care of ourselves.
We can leave this life at any time. We could have been thrown out of life a thousand times up to now. But we’re still here. We have beaten a lot of other people by making it just to here.
Take the remaining time by the horns and focus on what you want – what you will regret on your death bed if you didn’t do it – and do it. Squeeze the time you need to achieve it, out of your everyday routines and get it done.
You’re only fifty. You have time. You have experience. You’ve succeeded so far in harder things than this.
We got this. Take another breath and write down your ideas – or flip that coin and go all in.
Tell me what you chose and how you’re going to achieve it. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook Page or join the Facebook Group (It’s brand new so there’s no-one in there right now – don’t be scared I’ll say hi – gotta start somewhere – and so do you)
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