Life lessons 50-plus folks have come to learn

If you want to know how to age successfully, your best bet is to ask older adults who’ve figured out the secrets. Here are some valuable life lessons learned from those who are age 50 and beyond:

• We no longer think the universe revolves around us. We have moved away from all those silly, youthful, egocentric, concerns of yesteryear. We now have realistic perceptions of life. We are free to do what we please and are not held back by the opinions of others.

• We have redefined later life as a time of growth rather than a period of inevitable decline.

• When we begin to seek out opportunities to serve, what we are truly doing is helping others, and by definition, helping ourselves, which will cause great goodness to flow into our own lives. We have learned so well that what goes around, comes around, so we seek to serve wherever help is needed.

• We cannot help someone (or thing) without helping ourselves; and, all things being connected, every act of kindness no matter how large or small, actually causes a reverberation of positive energy.

• We know ourselves, we know what makes us tick. We don’t worry about pleasing other people; living by someone else’s standards or rules. We live authentic lives and have set in stone principles that are unwavering. Without compromise. We have earned the power to live our lives any way we choose and to be faithful and factual to the truth about ourselves.

• If we make a mistake it is not the end of the world. Sometimes, we even laugh off our faux pas. We’ve learned that no one is perfect and so we give ourselves a break and don’t beat ourselves up.

• Stuff is just stuff and if stuff breaks, so what! The loss of something might sting but we know it was just STUFF! We’ve come to understand that if a loved one breaks something and we respond in a hurtful way, those words might never be erased.  Loved ones are way more important than stuff.

• We stop judging folks. We have lived long enough to know that the child having a tantrum in the store might have special needs. The bald female cashier at the grocery store might have lost her hair due to chemo. The overweight woman who is strutting her stuff in a midriff top probably lost a lot of weight and wants to show off her new bod. We stop shaming folks for smoking, drinking or eating too much. We’ve learned to mind our OWN business and to live and let live sans judgment.

• We know that we have got to stop and smell the roses and enjoy the time we have to the fullest. We now totally get that tomorrow is not promised. When we were young, we thought we would never get old and yet, here we are! So we revel in all that life has to offer and are grateful that we have made it this far.

• We have come to realize that life after 50 is actually better!