On Turning Fifty

Yesterday, on 7 May, I turned 50. I was born on a Friday in 1971 and turned 50 on a Friday. Nice synchronicity. I have recently seen a couple of photos of myself aged 25, which is literally half a lifetime ago.

I can say without hesitation that I am so glad to be well and truly out of my 20’s, which was a turbulent and uncomfortable decade for me to say the least. I think my 50’s will be great. At least, that’s how I am feeling today on day two. I don’t feel 50, but then I didn’t really feel 25, so there you have it.

In the last eighteen months I have done a lot of mindfulness meditation. I now average about an hour a day, every day. The image at the bottom of this post is my stats summary from the Calm.com app, which is my preferred guided meditation source. I particularly like Tamara Levitt and Jeff Warren, I like their voices, and I like their whole deal. They are both very different, but have both disclosed some history of personal difficulty which makes them very relatable. Jeff in particular is great.

In addition to guided meditation, I also use the Insight Timer app for unguided 20-30 minute meditation, with interval bells marking time. This practice has transformed my anxiety and stress levels completely, and I would not choose to function without it now.

On the last day of my 40’s, aged 49 and 364 days, I took a minute to bring a breathing exercise into the work day for the first time. I have heard it often stated that the place to see the benefits of meditation are in everyday life rather than during the sessions themselves, and I am determined to spend my 51st year working breathing minutes into my work day to extend personal out-of-hours practices into influencing my behaviour with staff and handling of work stress when it is happening, rather than later that evening.

All good. And now, off to rest up to prepare for tomorrow’s celebration of my birthday with a few friends (26 to be precise).