The Manifesto

In my 50’s I will:

• Trust myself without reservation. The cost of rumination is too high. My instincts are excellent and even when I make a misstep I’ve proven over and over I know how to course-correct.
• Wear beautiful things. Or not. It was for me the whole time.
• Think of romance as a value-added, not central to my happiness. The endless searching took energy away from more valuable pursuits.
• Quit explaining my value to others (other than my customers). Maybe it’s someone else’s job to see, and not mine to make them look.
• Protect my peace. Boundaries are everything.
• Let go with love. Lots of things won’t be right or right enough. I will move on without anger.
• Understand that taking care of myself is the real work of my life, all else comes after.

Photo submitted by the author.

• Keep my promises to myself because that relationship is the template for all others.
• Quit striving, worrying, or putting energy into making relationships come to me. What is meant for me will make itself known.
• Trust my ideas. Trust my work.
• Be immensely proud of how I’ve handled myself to arrive here. Two bouts of cancer are no joke and I came out on the other side thriving.
• Believe that perfection is tyranny. Creation is iteration.

Tell me in the comments, how will you handle this decade you’re in?