LIVING THE BEST ‘YOU’ AFTER 50…
Are you living the Best ‘YOU’ after 50? First of all, where the hell did those 50 years go, anyway? We are now, well, over 50-years-old, and it is our time to be who we want to be. We are most probably empty nesters, or close to it, and so used to doing and being everything that everyone wanted us to be that we forgot who we are. Don’t you feel like that? I know I did. It also took me quite a while to stop being everything for everyone. I didn’t even know how to start being ‘ME!’ Push up your sleeves girls, and start reading. If you don’t know who you are or what you want to do or be now that you are done ‘Being’ for everyone else, you will have ideas on how to find out by the time you are done reading. It’s time to focus on You and what living the BEST ‘YOU’ means to You.
A Few Questions to Ask Yourself:
What does living the best ‘Me’ mean to me? What would that look like?
Am I happy where I am in my life?
Am I happy with who I am?
Am I happy with my relationships?
Are the people I have relationships with encouraging me to be my best?
Do I take the time to do self care?
Do I have a hard time saying “No!”
Am I doing things that make me happy?
Am I doing things that I’m truly passionate about?
Do I delegate?
Am I stuck in a dead-end job that I absolutely hate waking up to go to?
How do I feel emotionally and physically?
Okay now, dig deep and answer those questions honestly! Get a journal, notebook, computer, whatever and write down the questions and answers, along with the date. The most important thing is to focus on living the best you, what that means and how can you get there… Now What? You’re asking, ‘Now What?’ Well, I will tell you what…Now, you start working on You. Start sitting with yourself in quiet, asking yourself any of these questions…maybe the one that bothers you the most. And just sit and meditate and just BE. Don’t sit and try to answer the question. Just sit in quiet. Focus on your breathing. If your thoughts start to wander, just validate the thought and continue focusing on your breathing. Inhale, counting 1-2-3-4, Exhale, 1, 2, 3, 4…. That is one thing you can do. Sitting in quiet and just ‘being’ can open the door to what you are looking for. Deep breathing from the belly, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through your mouth, relaxing your shoulders and a straight spine, and just focus on your body, and allow yourself to release any tension…just breathing and focusing. Another is once you write down the answers, pick one question to focus on at a time, otherwise, it can get very overwhelming, possibly even depressing, agitating, fearful, etc. One little step at a time. Look at the answer and say, you were working on the question about are you doing things you are passionate about. First, write down what you are passionate about. You may want to write somethings down, or even one thing down, and go back a little later and think of more things you are passionate about (if you are having a hard time answering this). When you get at least 5 items down, take one item at a time and think about when the last time was when you did that. You can write down the date. Go to each item until you are done. If you have done them, that’s great! Try to think of other things you are passionate about but haven’t done. If you haven’t done them, write down next to the date, how you could incorporate that into your life. Then, take the time and effort to start doing what you are passionate about. You don’t have to go wild with it, just one item at a time. A big one is self care. If you don’t do any self care, START. That is a necessity. You are worthy of giving yourself time to take care of yourself. Ideas for self care are pamper yourself – whatever that means to you; go for a walk or exercise, yoga; get a massage, meditate, take a bubble bath, sit down in your favorite spot and read a book you’ve been interested in, meet a friend for a cup of coffee, get a manicure, stay in your jammies and watch movies all day, etc. You are Enough and, You are Worthy to do things that rejuvenate you and make you happy and feel energized. If you feel guilty doing this for yourself, get a friend to do it with you. Think about all that you do for others and not for yourself. If you feel better about yourself after doing self care, that will help you live the best version of you. Now you have somewhere to start on this journey of finding how you can live the Best You after 50 and so on. By focusing on You, what you are doing in your life, people you spend time with, how you feel about yourself, etc., you will start to see more of what you want. Be open and allow the real you to come out and live the best version of you!