50 is the ideal time to slow down and reflect on your life so you can release the weight you’ve been carrying around and embrace who you are.
Perfection
Perfection is an unattainable goal that will only leave you tired and drained if you continue to pursue it. Maybe you strive to keep your house spotless, work ridiculous hours, or feel like you have to look a certain way to be amazing.
Quit striving to be perfect and just embrace good enough. Allow yourself to be messy and human, make mistakes, and to have days where you just don’t feel awesome. It will free you up to actually enjoy the life you are living instead of trying to constantly fix it.
Regrets
You cannot change your past, so why spend your future worrying about it? You can’t rewind time and change the decisions you made in your 30s or your 40s, but you can stop beating yourself up over them.
Replace your regrets with the knowledge that those mistakes taught you what you needed to know to become the woman you are today. So let them go.
Fixing
It’s time to stop trying to fix other people. Sure, you may have been dubbed the problem solver in your friend group or by your family, but you are not responsible for other adults’ happiness or life choices. Chances are, trying to fix everyone else is draining you of your own happiness.
Allow the people in your life to feel what they feel and sort out their own problems. You are protecting your energy by setting this boundary.
Approval
Living for other people’s approval limits you to living your life according to other people’s expectations. Maybe you’ve based career choices, fashion sense, or daily decisions on what you think people want to see from you.
You will never please everyone, and trying to do so will only make you lose a part of yourself. Letting go of the need for approval from others will allow you to walk through life with quiet confidence.
Rules
Don’t let anyone tell you how you should or should not look past a certain age. Stop trying to fit into their idea of what a woman over 50 should be like.
Clothes and makeup are tools of expression. If someone doesn’t like how you look, it says more about them than it does about you.
Grudges
When you forgive someone who hurt you in the past, a weight is lifted from your shoulders. Forgiveness isn’t for the other person; it’s for you. Resentment and anger take up space in your mind and body that you could be using to achieve your goals.
Forgiving someone doesn’t mean you have to allow them back into your life. You can simply choose to no longer give that person the power to control how you feel every day. Let it go and move on with your life.
FOMO
Fear of Missing Out is telling yourself there’s more fun to be had somewhere other than where you’re currently sitting. Know who else struggles with FOMO? Everyone.
Stop feeling guilty about spending an evening at home curled up with a good book.
Guilt
So often we’re taught that putting ourselves first is selfish. But denying yourself the self-care your heart and body crave is damaging to your well-being.
Whether that means taking a walk during your lunch break, spending money on your favorite hobby, or saying no so you can get a full night of sleep, don’t feel guilty about putting yourself first.
Drains
Although it can be difficult, you are under no obligation to keep people who drain you in your life. Set boundaries or cut off friends, family members, and partners who make you feel anxious or inadequate.
Keep the people who light you up and forget about the rest. Life is too short to shrink yourself just to make someone else feel better about the incredible person you are.
Ageing
The older we get, the more we’re told we should hate getting wrinkles and grey hairs. But your age is not something to be feared or hidden. You are allowed to be older, and you’re beautiful because of it.
You are stronger, wiser, and more resilient than you’ve ever been. Fight to be yourself, grow older with grace, and honor the life you’ve lived on your skin. There’s freedom in showing up just as you are.
Comparison
Social media has a funny way of making you believe everyone else’s life is so much more exciting than yours but everyone has flaws; they’re just really good at hiding them on Instagram.
The comparison game is something you will never win. Be proud of how far you have come and stop worrying about where everyone else is in life.
Control
We like to think we have some sort of control over our lives, our kids, and our friends, but this mindset will drive you insane. You cannot control everything that happens to you, and no amount of effort will change that.
When you surrender and let go of the need to control everything around you, you’ll have more energy to enjoy your life.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.