Guess what?
Same thing applies to 40, 50, 60, 70 and every decade after.
Do the math.
It’s no longer unrealistic to think you’ll live to 100 especially if you live an active life, take good care of yourself, and eat well.
If you assume a lifespan of 100 (instead of the 70 years it used to be), that means “midlife” is 50. That means when you hit that midpoint you’ve potentially got another five decades in front of you.
Think about everything you did with the first five decades. It’s a lot!
At 50, there’s time to reinvent yourself (at least twice!), go back to school, travel, choose a new career, master an instrument or several, start a new business, learn new languages, move to another country, totally transform your lifestyle.
Once we loosen up our ideas about what’s possible, and distance ourselves from the assumptions that have been imprinted on us, we can think about how many years we actually have.
I find once I actually do the math, I’m amazed at how much time I have—and I start creatively imagining all the things I can do with that time.
Look for role models.
My dad—an accomplished psychiatrist with a high-level career in the federal government—always loved psychoanalysis. He studied it in his spare time and read about it voraciously for his entire life.
When he retired from the federal government at 65 years old, he went back to school to become an analyst. That’s a four-year graduate program.
My dad started an entirely new career as a psychoanalytic psychiatrist in private practice—after he retired.
At 65, he wasn’t “too old” to go back to school. He wasn’t slowing down—he was reinventing himself, training in something he loved. Almost 20 years later, he’s incredibly successful and working full time.
I consider him a model for longevity and lifelong expansion. And there are people doing the same all around us.
Look around you. Who in your sphere is doing the same? Who’s reinventing themselves, studying, learning, starting new things whatever their age?
Who’s living like they have decades in front of them—even if they’re 70 or 80? Watch what they do to recognize that it can be done.
And the great news? Living like this actually increases your longevity—so it’s a positive feedback loop!
What are you looking forward to the most in the decades to come? How have you shifted your expectations about longevity? Let us know in the comments below!