50 is a great time to discover you're not done growing

Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with understanding, and lack of purpose with self-actualization.  – Bo Bennett

We’re Done! – 49 Weeks ‘til I’m 50 – Ready, Set, it’s all about A FOCUSed plan to get there!  The big day arrived a week ago!  The AARP envelope arrived earlier that week and made it official, I’m 50.  The next morning I woke up and…I felt the same as the day before.  

So, I’ve given it a week to see if I feel any different?  Nope, still feel the same.  I guess after all these years of experience having birthdays, I’ve gotten so well at adjustment, the turning a new age thing doesn’t bother me much at all.  This last year has been a fun journey of discover though.  I’m ready to move on to discovering why 50 isn’t that bad after all.  I confess too, I'm excited to blog again about just random thoughts again.

For the last month leading up to 50, I discovered letting go of the 40’s is pretty darn easy.  Why?  The obvious, of course, is you can’t stop time, so you might as well accept it.  The less obvious, is when you let go of something, you free yourself to discover new things.  A choice to do new things, outside of my “normal” schedule was refreshing.  I discovered how much I treasure my friends and family.  I found stepping out of my comfort zone has gotten easier over the years.  I found stepping out of your rut, you discover the road less traveled can be bumpy and it can be smooth.  It's simply fun to go with it no matter what.  Stepping out of your comfort zone may be just what you need to keep on keeping on with this crazy thing called life!

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself.  – Alan Alda

The first 49 years gave me the gift of the ability to COPE – Chill, Observe, Persevere and Enjoy.  I take that gift with me to the 50’s and love being me.  Sure, I've made mistakes, but I can't hold on to them with regret.  That's fear holding me back.  Every person makes mistakes as they grow, but no matter what choices you make along the way, they create the person you are meant to be.  The wisdom gained from the mistakes and successes in life only help you continue to grow.  You don’t grow old, you simply continue to grow.  

Without a doubt, I am blessed and thankful beyond words.  I treasure my family, my friends and my life.  There’s no time like the present to discover the next phase in life!   Ready, set, let’s roll on to the 50’s and discover how rich life really is.  

Take time during your 50’s to:

• Travel somewhere you've never been.
• Visit a museum or famous landmark.
• Color your hair, or don’t, it’s your hair, you decide!
• Laugh uncontrollably more times than not.
• Be brave, bold and beautiful.
• Paint something, doesn’t matter what, ‘cuz it’s fun to create.
• Listen intently to the sounds around you.
• Pause, relax and enjoy simple things.
• Tweak traditions.
• Be goofy.
• Taste new foods.
• Walk, run, play, more often than you sit.
• Smile…A LOT!
• Embrace the person you've become and never stop growing!

Thanks for stopping by and for taking this journey of letting go of the 40’s and embracing the 50’s with me!  Enjoy your ability to COPE!  Time keeps on ticking away – be present for each moment! 

How did it get so late so soon?  Its night before its afternoon.  December is here before its June.  My goodness how the time has flewn.  How did it get so late so soon?  Dr. Seuss

PS…photography moments.  I’m setting out to try 50 clicks each time I pick up my camera.  On top of that, I have to keep only the worst one and the best one of the 50 click session.  Now that’s a challenge for me.  Being that I’m the one who took the photos, even if they are horrible, I still see some beauty that I was trying to capture in each one.  I’m getting better at deleting the blurry ones or completely white/black because I had the ISO wrong.  I’m hoping the restriction of finding the worst and the best and deleting the rest will help me focus on composition and clarity. 

One day I saw a fire that was smoldering in a field and I thought…hmmm, that’s something that I haven’t taken a picture of, wonder if I can find something cool to capture?  It was a nice little stroll in the fog.   I’m stepping out of my comfort zone, trying new and different things.  Yep, 50 is going to be great.   

A path is always interesting

But this one is more interesting,
leading into the fog

The tree, the fog, the little fire

Focusing more on the forefront, I'm
not sure which I like better.

Cool contrasts, and flames, maybe a little too dark.

More smoke and a bigger flame.

Tree leaves and fog in the background.

Oh, but the tree and the texture of this one is better.

The reed like weeds were cool looking to me.

I like this composition better,
the small smoke at the bottom,
leading up to the weeds.

It's hard to see, but I actually captured a spider web
on the tree branches in front.  

I like how the branches in front blurred a bit, and the
smoke in the back and flame are more clear.

Time to head back!  See you
in 50 clicks!