If I Had My Time Again...

Midlife is the time when most of us start to think back on our lives and consider what we might do differently if we had our lives over again. We might regret leaving school before we should have done because we were impatient to start earning real money. Many of us will regret some of our relationships and most of us would probably take a different career path, given another chance.

Those of us who have succeeded in life (however you measure it) will have done so due to a mix of good fortune, a gritty determination to succeed, our inbuilt intelligence and the right family support. Those of us who have fallen short will have lacked one or more of the above – that’ll be most of us then!

But we are where we are now. As so many before me have said, ‘Life isn’t a rehearsal’ and we won’t get the chance to try again so what are our options?

• Cry into our beer and do a great impression of being a victim
• Carry on as we are
• Think about what’s gone before and what lessons we’ve learned
• Look around and identify new opportunities that might be open to us
• Set ourselves measurable targets to achieve, to improve the rest of our lives

The answer? Obviously, it’s the last option. But is it? Most of us won’t set ourselves stretching targets to achieve – that’s likely to be very uncomfortable and too much like hard work. (We’ll say we’re going to do it, of course, but will we? Unlikely…)

The answer is to do what’s best for you, in your own circumstances. It’s what you can commit to and what you are likely to achieve.

What I would say to you, is please try to leave your comfort zone. That is the single biggest thing that you can do to move your life forward. Start small – cold call a customer, pluck up the courage to start a conversation with the person that you fancy (but not if you’re already in a relationship), start an exercise regime, etc

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Start small and persevere. You will be amazed at the difference that other people will notice about you – that’s a good measure isn’t it?

What would you do differently if you had your life over again?

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Rob Horlock has established The Mid Life Opportunity (www.midlifeop.com), a community for people in Midlife. Advice and Guidance is available from The Mid Life Coaching Panel. It’s free to join - click here

Midlife Joke of the Week

A midlife man is stopped by the police around 1am and is asked where he is going at this time of   night.

The man replies, “I am going to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body”.

The officer then asks, “Really? Who is giving that lecture at this time of night?”

“My wife” the man replies….