Hey60 Fam,

                  Welcome to all you people out there stepping into a new and amazing phase of life. My name is Paula and like many of you, I have fear and excitement for this new journey.       I have a confession to make… I am not quite 60 yet. Close enough to know that if I blink it will be here. Lately, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the years behind me.  Mostly how fast time has gone speeding by.  More so, how I want these next years ahead of me to be on my terms and about doing all those things that I’ve put off because something or someone else needed more from me.  Looking at it now, I realize more than half my life is gone. While I cannot get that time back, I can look forward to those things that I have always wanted to do and actually accomplish some of my bucket list. While jumping out of a perfectly good airplane or zip lining in the jungle aren’t exactly top of my list, I do have my own ideas of things that would suit me. For example taking a train cross country and watching the world go by, or taking up photography.

                  These years are about the journey of finding myself, about finding a peace that heals the soul and spending every moment enjoying each day while experiencing all the things this world has to offer along with all those things I’ve been afraid to do or those things someone has said you cant. Here is the thing, when you get to be this age, it no longer matters what people think. We spend so much time looking for approval or acceptance from others that we forget who we truly are. One thing that has become very clear to me is that those things we thought were important become less and less important as we get older.

    What we need to do is what’s called the shedding of shoulds…

~You should have that job by 30

~You should dress this way

~You should want what everyone else wants

     Aging has a way of stripping away the shoulds that once dictated how we live. We stop asking permission and ask the question…is this true to me?   The only approval we need is our own.

     Living a life on your own terms doesn’t mean a life without compromises or responsibilities. What it does mean is you chose the compromises you want to make, and honor the responsibility that aligns with your values. Time to start living on our own terms. Not because our time is running out but because time has finally taught us how precious each decision we make is. There is a strange liberating joy in realizing the clock isn’t just ticking down, its urging us to live it up and fill our days with things that make us feel alive. So here’s to growing older without growing smaller and  Here’s to the chapter where we stop performing and start living.

        My goal is to be happy and healthy. Finding peace in the journey is the only way to go but I am not going quietly. If someone tells me you cant or shouldn’t do that, I’m gonna say hold my beer.  I’m going to live on my terms. If you want to go on this journey with me, I am all for having others along for the ride.

Peace and happiness

Paula