I have finally reached the end of my countdown to 45 and I can say that the dreadful feeling caused by thoughts of aging has been replaced by a strong resolve to be fierce even at 45. In fact, it is probably easier now to have fire and spunk because of my age.

Happy birthday to me! 🙂

The days leading to today had me pondering. In the midst of all the musings, I realized that certain adjustments in how I view life would make a world of difference. If they work, life would be awesome. If they don’t work, I’d be where I am now… I guess. But, I do think that even if they don’t turn my life into something spectacular and incredible, I’d still be in a pretty pleasant place.

All the best to me! And to you, too!

Relinquish Control

I wasn’t really looking forward to another birthday because I wasn’t sure getting older would be fun. As I thought about it, I realized that it should be fine. After all, this is one of those things that cannot be controlled at all. I wrote about relinquishing control: ‘Aging, Birthdays, Control’. I felt better. It made sense.

My relinquishing control means that I told myself that I will not run away from birthdays anymore and enjoy them as I did the 10 years I celebrated my 30th. So, I made this (image below).

I also think that it’s almost impossible for anyone to like something known to be more negative than positive. Thus, the decision is to work from truly knowing as opposed to merely hearsay based other people’s experiences seems wise. I first need to embrace aging to really know what it’s all about. I suspect that I might be surprised and it actually has more good than not-so-good. See, I don’t even want to use the word ‘bad’.

Resist Conformity

As I counted down, I started writing what I thought would help me from now on. ‘More cheesy than cool’ says I am cool with my cheesiness and it’s true. I seem to have this idea that women of age don’t care what people think. They have developed self-confidence and they are happy with what we like. I like that. I want to join that club.

It is now time to enjoy what I really like even if no one else does. I will soak in the joy I feel when I listen to the music I love: songs with beautiful words that go with the melody. My music doesn’t have to send anyone dancing. And two people who end up dancing to my kind of music will be just wonderful because they will be close to each other and they will move harmoniously together.

I will feel and apply the same with respect to my hair, clothes, shoes, and so on. Worry not though as I will remember to always acknowledge and understand age-appropriate grace although I will not be constrained by age.

Here I go… letting go

And here are two short points. Honestly, they’re only short because I made notes and I was meant to add the meat days before today but there were items on my priority list which were too darned demanding. Perhaps, I will find time to come back to this later.

Refuse to Cower

Go for the kill. Grab opportunities. There’s no age limit to achieving goals or making dreams come true. Age does not determine how we live. We must endeavor to ALWAYS live the best life there is to the fullest. Have no fear, like in the “good ol’ days”.

Respond to Change

Don’t ignore change. Don’t pretend it’s not there. Don’t wish it away. Acknowledge it. Welcome it. Give it a positive response, enthusiastically.

Life is a series of choices

Life is a journey. Life was never meant to be easy. As we live our lives, we realize – or at least we should realize – that life is full of trade-offs. Thus, for me, life is a series of choices.

For the most of our lives, we don’t really know for sure if we are choosing what’s right or what’s best for us and our loved ones. We make choices based on historical information, on our emotions, on our intuition, or a toss of a coin. What’s important isn’t how we choose or what we choose but how we respond to the result of our choices. Whether or not we pick the best option, what makes a real difference is we make the best of what happens after the choice. If we happen to make a mistake, we take responsibility for our choice. Except for certain circumstances, even when we let others choose for us, even when we strongly believe that situations or other people force us into a decision, ultimately, we make the choice. We choose to be influenced by external factors.

I am now working on letting go of the fear of making the wrong or bad decisions. There is a possibility that my decisions would take me far…

So, how far do you think I’ll go?