50 not out

Ah the half century is upon me. Turning 50. How did that happen?

Well, never mind that, the simple fact is it has, and so as I am entering old-gits territory, or is it the prime of mid-life, I feel I have earned the opportunity to comment on a few things. So here goes…

Don’t sweat the small stuff – the large majority of what you worry about won’t happen so try not to waste the time, energy and nerves on doing so.

Mental health and physical health do matter. Don’t take yourself for granted. Easily done perhaps when you are 20, but as soon as you hear yourself sighing ‘oooof’ when you sit down on a low seat, it’s probably worth taking a bit more time on making sure you stay active and healthy.

Enjoy your job. Not always easy as while I don’t think I enjoyed much from scraping labels off old fire extinguishers and putting them in a sandblaster when I was 16, it did help me learn that getting on with people from all walks of life was important and helped pass the day much more quickly and enjoyably.

And on taking this thought further, be nice and be kind to people. Sentiments that are easily overlooked but ones that are two of the most important and essential to building relationships. Indeed, be it your family, friends or colleagues, relationships in life always matter.  So, work at them and you won’t regret it.

Age is but a number. Frankly, apart from milestone birthdays, I usually forget how old I am and rarely think about the age of others. Enjoy the company of those who you like and avoid those you don’t, whatever their age.

Keep on learning. Remain inquisitive and interested and this just happens. You’ll learn by doing, especially in a job you love.

Finally, Spurs will always let you down. A sad fact of life… that is apart from Graham Roberts scoring against Anderlecht in the UEFA cup in 1984 when I was 11, which of course hooked me into the ‘joy’ of being a Spurs fan.

Oh, and you can never drink too much coffee, or beer… the final one is not true of course but does lead to some good times.

Cheers!