Reinventing yourself after 50

Can an old dog learn new tricks? Maybe, but you should definitely be able to make changes or reinvent yourself after the age of fifty.

Fifty isn’t that old, although society has always made the fiftieth birthday some kind of over the hill milestone. Your life is more than half over and now you are going into the last phase of your existence. Of course that is ridiculous. As you have probably heard a million times, age is just a number not a road marker on a dead end road!

The first step toward reinvention is self-evaluation. Where are you right now and where do you want to be? What would you like to change, your health, and your job, your everything? Write it all down and give it some thought. Over the course of a few weeks, add items and cross out items that you might have changed your mind on. You really want to be sure so take your time.

You made your list and you pretty much want to change everything. Look at the list and decide which item you want to change first. This is important because you don’t want to try to change everything at once. Take small deliberate steps to making the changes because if you try to do everything at once you will fail.

Health is always a great place to start because being in good health will make all your other challenges easier. You will have more energy and you will feel better about yourself. Starting to exercise and eat right takes time so don't get discouraged.

Let’s say another goal is to find a job or a better job. You have read and heard that folks over the age of fifty have a hard time finding jobs because of the myths that are perpetrated by society about older workers. You can’t let other’s perceptions stop you from your dreams and dreams can be as big when you are fifty as when you are twenty. Stay focused.

Change can be exciting as well as nerve-wracking. If you make deliberate and thoughtful plans and stay with them you will find that change very rewarding. You’ll probably wonder why you didn’t make any changes to your life before this.