From our summit back to base camp – our unique valleys.

By the time we arrive at 50 very few of us have not gathered stories of our own journey ‘up the mountain path to our summit and then back down again’. By the age of 55 most of us have a strong sense, as we look back up at where we have come from, that we are squarely back down at base-camp again.

But our modern Western culture tells us that this ‘Base Camp’ is the beginning of the end. That it is youth that prevails and it is the 1st half of life where all the joy and adventure lies and what awaits us, as we move through our autumn 50’s – after ‘the fountain of our outer youth has faded’, and what we now all carry, to various degrees, are back-packs laden with failure, mistakes, misfortune, regrets, disappointments and shattered dreams – is stuckness, boredom, pain, misery, frustration, moodiness and disappointment.

The fact is part of that is true. That’s life! I would be lying if I told you the path, from 55 lets say to 89, did not come with a hefty dose of ‘real shit’. Whilst there are plenty of celebrations ahead – of our off-springs’ blossoming careers and choices of life partners, weddings to put on, grandchildren to cherish, our own intimate relationships and friendships to nurture, memories to soak up, meaningful services to be provided towards our communities, hobbies to take up, travel to be had, destinations to be explored and so much more, when you look at the stark statistics, the truth is:

• both your parents will die
• either you or your partner will too
• so will some of your siblings and friends
• one of your offspring or their partners could get sick, worse die
• divorce will more than likely visit your broader tribe
• you will be regularly visiting doctors, specialists and hospitals – scans, X-rays, ICU, chemo, colonoscopies, masectomies, operations etc
• financial insecurity will remain a real worry and threat
• there will be loneliness and alone-ness, with less visits from friends and family than you would like
• you will stiffen up, become old and rigid – both in your body and in your mind
• you will feel pain – a lot of it

This is life. It is love at play. This is the season ahead. And it is the divine’s idea. So, it must be good. And therefore so must death.It is our return trip home to soul. Our task now is to somehow move forward, accepting, bending and flowing with it all.

Yes, it is up to each and every one of us to find new life at ‘the Base Camp‘ that is our mid 50’s. It is not the end of everything. It is the end of our youth, the end of our climb up and down, the end of ego’s domain over us and pop culture’s grasping reach on our lives. And it is now time for new exciting life to begin pulsating in and around us. If we are quiet enough, still enough, grounded enough, in nature enough, active enough, present enough, humble enough – we will see it and be able to receive it and embody it. This is what Fit50 is all about.

And yes  – 89 is a long way in the future. But the quicker we can all get our heads around the path ahead and find our True South, our 2nd half mojo, our meaning, purpose and our place in it all, the quicker we can begin to enjoy what we have right now and Feel Good about ourselves and our life every single day from hereon in.