Random thoughts on hitting 50
IMADE it. Stay calm. Especially stay calm when you have every reason not to stay calm. That’s the time when you most need to stay calm. Try and be useful. We are conditioned to be selfish and individualistic but that never makes us happy. But still we do the same thing expecting a different result. So maybe try something different, like being useful. And you might notice it makes you feel good.
But you will always default to being selfish.
Try and avert your gaze to the magic. You have to practise to see it. You have to break the habit of missing it and create a new habit of actively seeking it out. And then hopefully you’ll see it everywhere.
Grace is there somewhere, sometimes too. Sometimes you nearly catch it, just about, but it slips through your fingers. Maybe try less, and surrender to it.
Redemption is possible. And it will probably come from the most unexpected place.
You may think you’ve found the perfect blazer, the one that will make you feel great every time you put it on, but there will always be another blazer, a better one. You can’t keep buying blazers. You need to make your peace with the first perfect one. Slow down.
You think you know it all now. But think of all the other times you thought you knew it all and you actually knew nothing. Embrace the cold.
I really need to try and eat more fish. But maybe it’s too late.
It’s not that there’s a lesser class of person in charge these days, it’s just that you can see them more clearly now.
I should have listened to my mother more. But at least I do now. Better late than never.
It’s all phases.
Don’t take friendship for granted. And don’t expect it to survive without a bit of time and a bit of work.
For me, it’s much better being thin than being fat. Controversial!
It’s often better to do nothing. In fact it’s nearly always better to do nothing. Most things work themselves out eventually. Often when a situation seems to have deteriorated and is getting unbearable, that’s when it suddenly resolves itself.
Sometimes you just want a boiled egg. And toast. Or soup.
Daytime drinking is brilliant. Up until somewhere between the second and third pint.
It’s all about luck. Good luck and bad luck. The trick is to try and be facing the right direction for it.
Most musical acts do their best work in a ten-year period that usually coincides with their 20s — even David Bowie. There are some exceptions, especially opera singers.
Young men do stupid things over women.
Best to go places that have direct flights. Especially with kids.
Learn to swim. It’s not too late. Do it now.
The answer is not inside you. It’s actually probably outside you. Listen to older people.
Listen to younger people.
Some people don’t like you. That’s OK.
Vitamin C, paracetamol and antihistamines are all you need for a cold. The rest is bullshit.
Take an ibuprofen two or three drinks in and another going to bed and drinks loads of water and you won’t have a hangover. And don’t ever have that last drink.
If you go to the doctor and the doctor tells you there is nothing wrong with you, don’t be annoyed that you wasted money. Reassurance is the best result you can get.
Don’t get too high. As my mother would say, that can only go in one direction.
If something doesn’t seem to add up, it probably doesn’t.
Get the flu jab.
Chorizo is a good addition to pretty much anything.
You need to know what you’re going to watch before you go into Netflix. Otherwise you’ll spend an hour looking for something and it’s time to go to bed.
And finally, from a Max Ehrmann poem that someone sent me once:
And whatever your labors and aspirations/
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul/
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams/
it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.