Student again – At 46

And yet another confined birthday is here. A time to revisit the year gone by and file the annual statement of life in the last year. As I take stock of the time between the last birthday and this birthday, i see a lot of newness in the year that just passed by. Newness at the age of 46? when your life is almost half done. how can there be something new still left ..thats the first thought – Right ? but believe me.. it is.

I became a student of unexplored territory last year. Let me explain. Whole of my work life had been around the offline model of business and online or social media like Facebook and Instagram was merely a source of entertainment for me. I did not even know the difference between a Post, story or reel until my last birthday. but then this happened.

The online model of business was like unchartered waters for me but at the same time, it also created an opportunity for me to learn and understand something that i did not know before. I learnt the fundamentals of digital and online marketing, Facebook and Instagram algorithms and how they can be leveraged to acquire more customers, more sales and more visibility.

Learnt a bit of coding – website constructions – digital advertisement technics and it was so satisfying to learn new things like a school student at this age.

When I look back, i would like to share few things that i feel everyone must consider once cross the age of 45-46.

Learn something New :

Believe it or not, the mid-life crisis is always about identity. Thats one of the reasons, people always try to change their appearance at mid-life to create and project their identity. Another great way of changing your identity is to learn something new, some new skill or even a degree/certificate that you always wanted but never got the time to do. Not only this helps us re-invent ourselves, it also helps to increase self-esteem and motivation which is a key need of mid-life. Studying provides the opportunity to reskill or upskill, either in your existing field, or for work in a new area. The world is changing/digitising and this surely helps cope up with the new world challenges.

“The brain is like a muscle” and should be kept active and alert as you age. Developing a new personal interest that mentally challenges you can have a significant impact on your mental health and brain functionality overall.

Be Stupid: 

You always know what you are good at and hence you keep doing things which you are master at. In the process, you keep repeating the same thing and subconsciously it creates boredom. We keep ourselves bored in order to not feel stupid which I feel is a wrong trade. Do things which you are not good at, fail, fall and feel stupid.. Not only this will bring some humour or fun, it will also give us an opportunity to master something new that you never thought of doing.

Travel : 

Take every damn opportunity to travel to a new place, new location. Covid has taught us how uncertainty prevails in life and you do not want to regret later. It does not have to be a 5 star vacation.. It can be just a small road trip to a nearby town. Indulge in activities en route travel. You will find them more rejuvenating then those expensive Spa vacations.

Appear Fresh & New :

Get that hair-cut or hair-color that you always wanted to but never got the courage to do. Trust me, most people wanted to get that appearance change until they are 40-45 but get stopped by the fear of being judged. If you will not do it now then you never will and end up with that regret on your death bed. When you do what you want to do – people will judge you but wear the collar of “Who cares !”. Once you do not care, the people who judge you automatically stop judging you. Change your avatar as you feel like. its your life, live it now.

a lot more to share but may be some other time.. till then take care and stay safe.

Feeling blessed by the overwhelming birthday wishes across the planet and across all media platforms. Those are the people that I live my life for.