The Best Thing About Being My Age

The best thing about being my age is that I do not tell my age.  Why would I?  To me, that is very private territory.  Some people like to shout their ages from the rooftops.  Almost, as if it were something to be proud of.  And in one way, it is better than the alternative!  My question is why should it matter.  It is just a number.  How you live is much more important.

So besides not sharing my age with others, another good thing about being my age is knowing what mistakes I have made. Then the important job is working on trying not to make them again in the same manner, yet still taking myself out of my comfort zone to take risks.  Giving myself room to explore life and learn, possibly failing, however, being wise and positive enough to know that it takes some failures to get to a great success.  Embrace the failures instead of fighting them.  Remember, if Alexander Graham Bell had given in to failure, we would be spending less time staring at those little plastic things that we call phones.  (maybe not such a bad thing, eh?)

At my age, I don't feel the need to compete with others and with that I have an inner sense of peace and freedom.  I am in competition with only myself.  To set one's own goals and to reach them and then to set new ones is uplifting.  I still go by a method called SMART goals, which for those who are not sure what I mean: S = specific, M = measurable, A = attainable, R = relevant, and T = time-bound.  That may be very old school but it still works for me and keeps me on track.

There are still problems to solve, plenty of them.  Now, they are much more manageable and on my time.  It is such a wonderful relief to relax and enjoy life versus just one year ago, when I was solving so many problems brought to me in my job that I actually started to make tally marks of just how many I did take care of within the first hour of work.  Most people could not believe my typical day. 

Every day is about having experiences and being aware of what challenges are being placed before you.  Being aware will be what determines the outcome.  Luckily, for me, I had support from my husband who knew exactly how to bring me down from my work day stress.  What I did do for myself was start using meditation and positive mantras at work.  I even put out a weekly MILESTONE to my co-workers with a positive mantra to help others if they wanted to read it.  They were short little positive motivational quotes that I later learned many had placed around their desks, posted on walls, and shared with others.  This really did validate what I tried to share with others, while at the same time helping myself remain sane.

Being my age (whatever that may be) is a very good thing.  One of my favorite words is serendipity.  In my case, finding something good without even looking was like finding gold for me. I had no idea that a whole new world was out there just waiting for me to feel it, see it, hear it, taste it and experience it.  That is called learning in the real sense. My age is very special to me.