I’m at the half century mark! What I’d do over.

I had my 50th birthday a few days ago. It’s hard to believe I’m here.  My life is quite different than I thought it would be at 50.  And I remember when I was in my 20′s thinking that 50 was OLD.  It doesn’t feel old now that I’m here. I’ve come to the conclusion that “OLD” is always at least 10 years older than your current age. LOL

With this milestone in my life, it got me thinking about regrets. As the song goes, “I’ve had a few”. I thought about what would I do differently if I could go back in time, with the current wisdom I now have.  Here’s a list:

1-I’d spend more time playing with my children. Some of my fondest memories were the few times my parents played with me. They played board games occasionally & one “hide and seek” type game that we loved was called “monster”. My mom or dad would come hunting for us while we hid, and pretend to be a scary monster with full sound effects. We loved it! I’m sure it was very energy draining for them  & they didn’t do it very often but I still remember the half a dozen times they did.

I did  play with my kids but I don’t think I did it enough. There was always something else calling for my attention.  I wish now that I had made a point to play with them every day if possible.

2- I wish I had started a good skin care regimen earlier…and stayed out of the sun when I was a teen.  I actually have Cherokee roots but you’d never know it to look at me. The European side (English, Irish, German) took over and I burn and freckle easily & am fair skinned. As a teen though, I was determined to have a great tan like my sister (who did get more of the Cherokee coloring) and I baked myself for several years. I finally gave up when I was 19 and got the worse sunburn of my life from falling asleep in a lounge chair down in Key West. So no more sun for me. I think that’s why most people now think that my sister, (who is 4 years younger than me) is the older sister. She continues to be a sun worshiper and it shows.

I also had oily skin so up to a few years ago, I never used any type of moisturizer.   Once I got on a consistent skin care routine, I noticed a big difference in how young I looked. Just think if I had started that in my 20′s!

3-I would have made better decisions with men. I won’t go there but lets just say, I should have listened more to that little voice in the back of my mind telling me that there was something not right with this relationship. Instead I ignored that little voice….and paid the price.

4- I would followed my dreams earlier instead of doing what I was good at….but hated doing.

5-I would have furthered my education sooner. I feel like I have learned more in the past few years than I have in all the years prior. And I have grown intellectually, socially, business wise, and emotionally because of it. I wish I had turned off the tv 30 years ago and started my self education back then. I’d be a genius now!

6-I’d take more chances in my business and life. In the past, I was just too scared or too lazy to take many chances. And I missed many wonderful opportunities.

7-I would have found my own “self” earlier. I spent a good portion of my adult life thinking I was who my mother said I was. What I didn’t see is that she saw me as i was when I was 13. I have changed quite a bit since then and am not the same person at all. I don’t know why  it took me so long to find my own “voice” and to learn to actually like myself. And realized I wasn’t the bratty little 13 year old my mom still saw me as.

8- I would have asked for help sooner in my business and my life. In my family, if you asked for help, it was a sign of weakness and you were berated. So I learned to do everything myself. We all do better when we lean on each other and learn from each other. I think I would have been much further along in my business if I had asked for help sooner. And I’m sure I’d be better off personally.

I think that about does it. I tried to come up with a list of 10 but 8 is all I could come up with. So I guess that counts for something. Right? So…what would you do differently?

P.S. Today’s Quote:       Dwell In Possibility!     Emily Dickensen

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Tags: Contemplations

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