The Wish-Idas...
The Benefits of Turning 50

"Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness."
George Santayana

If someone had told me in my 20s I would attempt to start my own home business at 50, I would have thought they had taken some really strong drugs. If someone had told me in my 30s I would write articles that would be read by hundreds of people, I would have asked them how long they had been hearing voices. If someone had told me in my 40s I would have a business that involved using a computer, I would have laughed so hard I would need to excuse myself to change my underwear.

Well, here I am...50 years old. I have started my own home business; I have written articles that have been read by hundreds of people (Okay...I KNOW my husband, best friend and mother-in-law have read them); and my home business involves the computer.

I say this with absolutely no conceit. I say this with wonder and amazement. This actually is ME living this life. I've dreamed of owning my own business for years; I've dreamed of writing and being published for years. I'm STILL dreaming of learning how to stop crashing the computer.

I don't regret not doing any of this at a younger age. I fully appreciate what is happening to me more at the age of 50 because I know what a struggle it has been. I'm more humble about my "success" because I have an attitude of gratitude. I look at what I've accomplished with the astonishment of a 3-year-old.

When I turned 50, I realized that the road before me was shorter than the road behind me. There was something about turning 50 that made me come to the realization that I didn't have as much time to do the things I've always wanted to do.

I've had dreadful visions of being 80, sitting in a rocking chair on a front porch, reflecting back upon all the "Wish-Idas." "Wish I'd done this; wish I'd done that." At 50, my fear of the"Wish-Idas" became stronger than my Fear of Failure, my Fear of Humiliation and my Fear of Being Technically Inept.

These are not things you think about in your 20s or 30s. That is the time in your life when you tend to feel that your future is spread out in front of you. It's as though you are standing on a spot on the East Coast and you see clearly in front of you the road that leads to the West Coast. At 50, you are somewhere in Kansas (close to the Colorado border) and now the road in front of you doesn't seem so long.

In your 20s and 30s, you have the luxury of saying, "I can always do that later." At 50, your "laters" are NOW.

This is not meant to be a depressing article on getting older. Turning 50 was not depressing for me. Turning 50 revitalized me. It gave me the confidence to feel I could tackle those things I've always wanted to do. If I didn't succeed at something the first time and I sincerely wanted it, I would keep trying and keep trying. If it wasn't meant to be, so be it; at least I gave it 100%.

The point of this article is this: Try ANYTHING that you sincerely and passionately want to do. You have nothing to lose. Feel that you're too old? How old is "too old?" "Too old" is any age YOU decide it is. If you decide there is no such age, then the world will stand aside to let you pass.

I am slowly shortening my list of "Wish-Idas." More and more I'm thinking when I look back on my life, I'll be saying, "I've had a full life following my passions. Successes and failures, but at least I tried."

Never place limits on yourself. Don't let it be YOU sitting in a rocking chair on a front porch, regretting the "Wish-Idas."

"Do not aspire to immortality, but exhaust the limits of the possible." Pindar