So often, people stress when they turn 50. Even when they turn 51, it is still closely associated with that “magical” year of 50. For most people, by the time they turn 52, they’re more comfortable with being in their fifties. They can simply enjoy the pleasure of becoming wiser.

So many people we admire and respect are in their fifties. These people have experience and maturity. They’ve been through the challenges of life. They’ve been seasoned by them. It’s like a fine wine. We all make mistakes in our youth. But we learn, we grow, and we find ourselves.

Treasure being in your fifties. And 52 is a young age! It’s an age where you know what you want in life and you have a sense of how to go about getting it.

Remember Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen? He was a man who had been through a lot and had found his path in life. He was 52 when he filmed that movie, and he won Best Actor.

Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman? Best Actor? Also 52.

Cate Blanchett won her academy award for Best Actress in Blue Jasmine when she was 52. Same for Renee Zellweger in Judy.

The famous book Watership Down by author Richard Adams was published when he was 52. This was his first book.

Then there was Karen Blixen, who published Out Of Africa when she was 52. She used the pen name Isak Dinesen.

Nino Salukvadze is a shooter from the country of Georgia. She competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics at the age of 52. She didn’t win a medal, but it’s still quite an honor to be eligible to compete.

Treasure all you can do at age 52!

The Bonus Years
Here on this site we not only are inspired by those who came into their own at age fifty-two. We also keep in our memories those whose lives ended when they were only fifty-two. It reminds us that our days ahead are precious. They are a blessing. They are golden time that others would have fervently wished for.

William Shakespeare
What a tragedy!! This amazingly talented poet could have created countless more plays and sonnets if he had more time.

Christopher Reeve
The Superman of the movie world. He did his best to stay alive, in hopes of being able to walk again, but his heart gave way.

Thomas Becket
The murder of Thomas Becket changed the course of history.

Grace Kelly
From movie star to real world princess, Grace Kelly was world renowned for her talents and compassion. Unfortunately, she suffered a stroke while driving, got into a serious accident, and died the next day from the injuries.

Are you currently 52? Do you have any special memories of when you were 52? Please share them below!

Five Minute Meditation:
Mindfulness, Stress Relief, and Focus
for Absolute Beginners

Looking to become more content with where you are in life and what you have to look forward to? I highly recommend meditation. Even just five minutes a day can make an enormous difference in your serenity, energy levels, and patience.

My book goes step by step through how to meditate and how to overcome challenges.

Best of all, it’s free!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Feel free to comment below about my book, this site, or anything at all!

The big hurdle of 50 is behind us! It’s no longer looming ahead. Now we can relax and enjoy the second half of our life.

It’s funny how people can obsess about turning 50, as if it really matters in any real sense. It’s just another year like all the other years. If we were using Hecadecimal numbers we wouldn’t even care about things in multiples of 10. Why do we, anyway? Because we have ten fingers and ten toes?

But here we are, in a society that has death masks and black colors for the 50 year birthday, as if it’s something to be unhappy about. It should be celebrated! Appreciated! And now that we’ve gotten through that, hopefully we can just breathe and enjoy our lives.

51 is seasoned. Experienced. We know what we want and we know how to get there.

Gary Cooper at age 51 won his Academy Award for his performance in High Noon. He had reached a pinnacle in his career.

Similarly, Dustin Hoffman was 51 when he was awarded the Academy Award for Rain Main, where he played an autistic brother. It shows sibling rivalries last the ages.

One of my favorite books is The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. he didn’t publish it until he was – you guessed it – 51.

One of Rembrandt’s most famous self-portraits was painted when he was 51.

Treasure all you can do at age 51!

The Bonus Years
Here on this site we not only are inspired by those who came into their own at age fifty-one. We also keep in our memories those whose lives ended when they were only fifty-one. It reminds us that our days ahead are precious. They are a blessing. They are golden time that others would have fervently wished for.

Napoleon Bonaparte
Powerful. Influential. But he was taken down by stomach cancer, a foe he could not conquer.

James Gandolfini
An amazing actor with a powerful personae. He passed away from a heart attack.

Marcel Proust
An amazingly talented author, it was pneumonia which took him out at age 51. Be sure to wear a face mask!

Are you currently 51? Do you have any special memories of when you were 51? Please share them below!

Five Minute Meditation:
Mindfulness, Stress Relief, and Focus
for Absolute Beginners

Looking to become more content with where you are in life and what you have to look forward to? I highly recommend meditation. Even just five minutes a day can make an enormous difference in your serenity, energy levels, and patience.

My book goes step by step through how to meditate and how to overcome challenges.

Best of all, it’s free!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Feel free to comment below about my book, this site, or anything at all!

The Golden Anniversary! The milestone! When we’re young, we can sometimes think of fifty as the End of Life. And maybe in historic times it was. But nowadays? It’s the halfway point! It’s when life becomes great, because our knowledge and experience can be used in ways we truly treasure.

Colin Firth hit his stride when he turned fifty – he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in The King’s Speech.

Russ Howard on the Canadian curling team won an Olympic gold, turning fifty while he was competing.

A whopping 21 different people won the Nobel Prize at age 50. These people put their energy and experience into tasks which bettered the world for us all. This includes Henry Kissinger for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Celebrate your 50th year by looking back at all you have accomplished – and then looking forward at all the great things still yet to experience!

The Bonus Years
Here on this site we not only are inspired by those who came into their own at age fifty. We also keep in our memories those whose lives ended when they were only fifty. It reminds us that our days ahead are precious. They are a blessing. They are golden time that others would have fervently wished for.

Errol Flynn
The original Robin Hood. Some say the very best Robin Hood of all time. Errol was dashing and notorious. What might he have done with more time? He died due to a heart attack.

Michael Jackson
The King of Pop had an amazing influence on society. He won more awards than any other performing artist. His road in life was rarely smooth, and in the end he died due to an overdose caused by his doctor.

Steve McQueen
I love him in The Magnificent Seven. He had an incredibly rough life including two abusive stepfathers. He eventually went into the Marine and turned his life around. His film career is legendary. Sadly, during his time with the Marines he did a lot of work involving asbestos and he developed incurable cancer. He fought it to the end and died in a hospital, trying to have the tumors removed.

Are you currently 50? Do you have any special memories of when you were 50? Please share them below!

Five Minute Meditation:
Mindfulness, Stress Relief, and Focus
for Absolute Beginners

Looking to become more content with where you are in life and what you have to look forward to? I highly recommend meditation. Even just five minutes a day can make an enormous difference in your serenity, energy levels, and patience.

My book goes step by step through how to meditate and how to overcome challenges.

Best of all, it’s free!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Feel free to comment below about my book, this site, or anything at all!

Age 78 is the perfect time to explore new opportunities and adventures! Take inspiration from Grandma Moses.

Grandma Moses’s real name was Anna Mary Robertson Moses. She worked on farms, raised ten children, and enjoyed life. Then when she was 78 she decided to take up painting seriously. Part of it was spurred by her arthritis which made her current entertainment, embroidery, too painful.

Now her works sell for quite a lot of money!

James Caan is a talented actor who loves his job. When he was 77 he was Grandpa in Undercover Grandpa. At age 78 he’s working on Welcome to Pine Grove!

The Bonus Years

Talented author Penny Vincenzi was well known for her 17 novels and reached best selling status. She was actively working on her next novel when she passed away at age 78. We’ll never know what other stories she wanted to share with the world. She would have greatly appreciated having more time to write – and so would her many fans!

Author Jim Harrison who earned acclaim for his book “Legends of the Fall” also passed away at age 78. He’d written over 30 books during his career and was still actively writing. He was primarily an outdoorsman who got into writing when he was injured and was bedridden for a while.

Famous actor John Ireland, known for over 200 different movies like “Spartacus”, “All the King’s Men”, and “Gunfight at the OK Corral”, passed away at age 78 from leukemia. He would have been thrilled to have beaten that disease and to be healthy enough to continue acting.

Are you currently 78? Do you have any special memories of when you were 78? Please share them below!

Five Minute Meditation:
Mindfulness, Stress Relief, and Focus
for Absolute Beginners

Looking to become more content with where you are in life and what you have to look forward to? I highly recommend meditation. Even just five minutes a day can make an enormous difference in your serenity, energy levels, and patience.

My book goes step by step through how to meditate and how to overcome challenges.

Best of all, it’s free!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Feel free to comment below about my book, this site, or anything at all!

The magic beginning of the octogenarian decade! What a wonderful age to reach. Eighty. Eight-zero. Eight is the symbol of infinity, when tilted on its side!

Did you know the celebration of an 80th anniversary calls for oak? Oak symbolizes strength and wisdom. It’s sure that a person who is hearty and healthy when they are 80 have something going for them!

80 can be the culmination of all your strengths and talents. The amazing actress Jessica Tandy, who was acting from age 18, got her Oscar award at age 80 for Driving Miss Daisy. And she wasn’t even done yet. She was nominated for a best supporting actress two years later in Fried Green Tomatoes.

Youngsters might think of 80 as old, but in Okinawa over HALF of women live past the age of 89. So being 80 means you still have fun years ahead of you!

The Bonus Years
Here on this site we not only are inspired by those who came into their own at age eighty. We also keep in our memories those whose lives ended when they were only eighty. It reminds us that our days ahead are precious. They are a blessing. They are golden time that others would have fervently wished for.

Mary Tyler Moore
This amazing actress inspired an entire generation (or two!) with her talents. She pushed the envelope with her characters and also worked on many charity projects. Sadly, she ended up catching pneumonia and dying from that.

Marlon Brando
Another towering figure well known for a variety of roles. He’s considered one of the greatest actors of all time and worked well into his later years. He had liver cancer and diabetes. Many around him knew he wasn’t taking good care of himself. If only he had been healthier, think of the roles he might have played.

Are you currently 80? Do you have any special memories of when you were 80? Please share them below!

Five Minute Meditation:
Mindfulness, Stress Relief, and Focus
for Absolute Beginners

Looking to become more content with where you are in life and what you have to look forward to? I highly recommend meditation. Even just five minutes a day can make an enormous difference in your serenity, energy levels, and patience.

My book goes step by step through how to meditate and how to overcome challenges.

Best of all, it’s free!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Feel free to comment below about my book, this site, or anything at all!

72! What a glorious age! Most people have retired by now and are enjoying hobbies. Maybe traveling and seeing the world. Maybe spending more time with family and friends. Maybe just relaxing and being able to do whatever they wish with their spare time.

Being 72 is a feat in and of itself. It was only 1950 when the average lifespan for white women in the US finally crossed 72. Black women joined in in 1980. White men didn’t reach that milestone until 1990. Black men only just barely made it onto that list as a national average, and in many states they still haven’t. In DC their average life expectancy is only 66.5 years.

The oldest known human was Jeanne Calment who died in 1997 at age 122. If you’re 72 now, it means you’ve got an entire 50 years to enjoy and treasure life! That’s certainly a lot of incentive to keep your body and brain healthy and running smoothly.

It’s always a challenge to look at ancient times and figure out a “true” life expectancy. Sure, sites can claim that the average Roman didn’t make it past 24, but that’s only because so many infants died quite young. It’s not as if it was a Logan’s Run world with zero people over the age of 30. Rather, for those people who did survive the childhood maladies and make it to age 10, it was typical for them to live to about age 47.5. Sure, it’s not 72, but it’s not 30, either. So if you’re 72 now, you’re an entire 24 years past their average.

Think of all those famous Romans. Caesar. Ptomely. Seneca the Younger. Think of what all those people would have given to get another 24 years added to their life to research. To enjoy the world.

If you’re thinking of taking up a new hobby, be inspired that Grandma Moses didn’t begin painting until age 78.

Agatha Christie turned 72 in 1962. She still had another 13 years of great life and writing ahead of her. In 1962 she published “The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side.” She wrote many more books after that.

72 is a time to celebrate and dedicate yourself to enjoying life!

The Bonus Years
Here on this site we not only are inspired by those who came into their own at age seventy-two. We also keep in our memories those whose lives ended when they were only seventy-two. It reminds us that our days ahead are precious. They are a blessing. They are golden time that others would have fervently wished for.

John Wayne
What an iconic figure. He starred in 142 films and was known the world around. He finally succumbed to cancer. It’s true he smoked, but he was also in the movie “The Conquerer” which was filmed downwind from a nuclear test site. A full 91 of the cast and crew of that movie ended up getting cancer. John would have undoubtedly loved more years to act, read, and enjoy his family.

Herman Melville
Moby Dick! The Great White Whale! He was also a poet. When Melville passed away he was actively working on both poetry and a novel. He wasn’t able to get either one completed. He would have loved an opportunity to see those projects to completion.

Are you currently 72? Do you have any special memories of when you were 72? Please share them below!

Five Minute Meditation:
Mindfulness, Stress Relief, and Focus
for Absolute Beginners

Looking to become more content with where you are in life and what you have to look forward to? I highly recommend meditation. Even just five minutes a day can make an enormous difference in your serenity, energy levels, and patience.

My book goes step by step through how to meditate and how to overcome challenges.

Best of all, it’s free!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Feel free to comment below about my book, this site, or anything at all!

Ah, 64. When one is young, 64 seems like an absolutely ancient age. One where you are toddling around with a cane barely able to walk or think. But for many of us, 64 is a delightful age and you’re nearing retirement. You’re finally ready for all the adventures in life!

We all remember the famous Beatles song involving the age of 64. I can’t list the lyrics here for copyright reasons, but it goes something like this :). Note that this is a cover band – apparently the real Beatles music isn’t on YouTube for some reason. Probably involving money.

64 is a magical number. It is 8 times 8. Which itself is 2 times 2, times 2. Maybe it’s the most special of all ages. Like I said, most people aim to retire about age 65. So 64 is that final golden moment when you are at the top of your profession and ready to give it all up to simply enjoy life. To soak in the glory of what our world has to offer.

Judi Dench was a full 64 years old when she won the Best Supporting Oscar for Shakespeare In Love. She was brilliant in that as Queen Elizabeth I!

The Bonus Years
Here on this site we not only are inspired by those who came into their own at age sixty-four. We also keep in our memories those whose lives ended when they were only sixty-four. It reminds us that our days ahead are precious. They are a blessing. They are golden time that others would have fervently wished for.

Bram Stoker
Does the name Bram Stoker send a shiver down your spine? This famous Irishman wrote the novel Dracula! Think of all the many movies and novels which owe a debt to his rendition of the vampire. Bram published Dracula in 1897, when he was fifty years old. He then suffered a series of strokes which led to his death. Imagine what other stories he might have written if he had been able to!

William Faulkner
William Faulkner is famous for all sorts of works. He wrote novels and essays, short stories and plays. He was quite intelligent but school just didn’t interest him; he never graduated from high school. He earned the Nobel Prize at age 52. There could have been many more stories, but he fell from a horse, was seriously injured, and then had a heart attack.

Are you currently 64? Do you have any special memories of when you were 64? Please share them below!

Five Minute Meditation:
Mindfulness, Stress Relief, and Focus
for Absolute Beginners

Looking to become more content with where you are in life and what you have to look forward to? I highly recommend meditation. Even just five minutes a day can make an enormous difference in your serenity, energy levels, and patience.

My book goes step by step through how to meditate and how to overcome challenges.

Best of all, it’s free!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Feel free to comment below about my book, this site, or anything at all!