I'm Turning 52 and Apparently That is a Good Thing

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a new podcast called “Wiser Than Me” where she interviews older women. Her goal is to talk to women who can teach her something. I love this idea so much.

I recently listened to Julia’s interview with Fran Lebowitz which was such a treat! Fran really calls it like she sees it. At one point they discussed how their 50s was their best decade (Julia even had breast cancer during this time and still says it was her best decade). This realization stopped me in my tracks. I am turning 52 in a few days. Apparently, I am at the start of this golden decade. How can I make sure I appreciate it and make the most of it? And when I say make the most of it, I don’t mean produce the most or find great success. I mean how can I live in it openly and authentically. How can I savor what this decade has to offer?

Julia and Fran talk about how by the time you are in your 50s you have had enough life experiences to make you wise. At the same time, you haven’t hit some of the more difficult aspects of the aging mind and body (Fran talks about the difficulties of aging several times throughout the podcast).

So I guess it is time for me to embrace my wisdom. My experiences are valuable. I have learned a lot in my 52 years and I can use that wisdom to usher me into the next part of my life. I can make informed and self-aware choices about what I want to do next. 

I also have the wisdom to know how much I don’t know and how much I can learn from others. I love to watch how other people are choosing to live this next chapter of their life. I can take a "little bit of this" and a "little bit of that" to create my own mosaic of this next part of my life.

I want to take the wisdom of Julia and Fran, who are a decade and two decades older than I am respectively, to remind myself not to sleepwalk through this next decade of my life but to lovingly embrace it. To appreciate the opportunity I have been given and create a life that gives me peace, happiness, growth, adventure and purpose. I want to love hard, give generously, laugh and connect, make mistakes and learn, do things that are hard for me and allow for gentle, spacious moments to just be. This probably won’t happen without effort, planning and intention. Thanks Fran and Julia for sharing your wisdom at the perfect time for me to hear it.

Photo by David Holifield on Unsplash