This topic  came to me a few weeks ago, when I got an email-invite for my cousin’s 50th birthday party that his wife decided to throw for him.  She sent me a text afterward  asking if we could make it considering the one hour drive to the venue. I immediately told her we would, thinking since they were one of the couples moving away, it would probably be the last time I see them for a while. Unless of course they came back to the city or I went down to Los Angeles with the sole intend to visit family – which I hate to admit – I am not good at. The visiting family part.

Note to self here, I need to work on that.

The moral of this blog post is that after I turned 30, I decided I would never have a birthday party again nor a celebration of it. Instead I would simply go away for a weekend or a few weeks somewhere far away and deal with getting older. Even a day-trip to Napa would suffice rather than a party with friends was my conclusion.

When I saw my cousin a week before his party at some event in San Francisco,  my first comment to him was – so, fifty huh? and I giggled like a normally do when I make a ‘possible’ dumb comment or offend someone although not really wishing to. And he laughed, and said to me – cuz, 50 is just a number. I will always consider myself forty-something.  He gave me a hug and we toasted while I literally gazed into his eyes, trying to read into his comments.

Naturally I lost sleep that night over this concept, since lately I’ve been feeling out-of-place a little, or maybe just off-balance as my body and mind is changing – hopefully not for the worst. He was right and I knew this, but I guess I’d forgotten it with all the negativity around me lately. So, I decided to seek other inspiration from online to help me get back on track – to find focus more on feeling young at heart instead of getting older. And the challenge I have given myself is to remain positive, live well, eat right and drink wine in order to have a better outlook on life and age as gracefully as possible.

In case you are still doubtful, consider these tiny little inspirations I found online to help you think otherwise:

First up, ageless athletes we should admire and  learn from – here 

When in doubt, turn here for some good-old fashioned advise and most everything you need to know about aging

Best diversion in my opinion is –  Monica Bellucci –  and her overall outlook on life and fashion  after 50, here.

What got my attention, is the suggestion – to get naked more often  in this article and the one about never looking back – best advise ever.

How do you feel about aging?