Key Takeaways
- Turning 50 can be an opportunity for expansion rather than limitation.
- Small adventures and meaningful experiences often shape life more than major milestones.
- Community, friendship, and shared experiences become increasingly valuable over time.
- Staying curious and engaged creates a more vibrant approach to aging.
- A fulfilling life is often built one intentional “yes” at a time.
Adventure Has No Age Limit
As I approach my 50th birthday this June, I have found myself thinking less about the number itself and more about the kind of life I still want to create.
Women are often taught to become quieter about age as they get older. To soften it. Avoid it. Minimize it.
I have felt the opposite.
Over the last year, the idea of “50 Things for 50” began forming in the background of my life. Not as a perfect checklist or dramatic reinvention, but as a reminder that life should continue expanding. There will still be adventures. There will still be goals. There will still be moments that surprise me.
The idea actually started during my 49th year.
The Beginning Started in Spain
For my 49th birthday, I spent a month in northeastern Spain. We started in the hot city of Barcelona and then made our way to La Torre along the Costa Brava in Catalunya.
Looking back, I think that sojourn quietly shifted something for me. There is a transformation that occurs when stepping outside my normal routine and giving myself enough time to experience a place slowly rather than rushing through it.
The trip reminded me how alive you can feel when you remain curious and open to new experiences.
It also made me realize how easily people postpone all the things they genuinely want to do.
So many experiences become “someday, or one day”
Someday when work slows down. One day when life feels less busy. Maybe perhaps when circumstances feel more perfect.
But meaningful experiences rarely arrive because timing suddenly becomes ideal. More often, they happen because we decide to say YES! anyway.
That mindset stayed with me as this year began unfolding.
The wonder of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
“A fuller and more vibrant life is rarely created all at once. It is built one YES! at a time.”
Learning from Someone Who Is Still Fully Living at 80
One of the first experiences that became part of my “50 for 50” year was celebrating my mother in law’s 80th birthday in January.
Thirty-five family members gathered together for a long weekend in Leadville, Colorado. This vibrant woman remains incredibly active, hiking, biking, skiing, traveling, playing golf and pickleball, continuing to participate fully in life. Her birthday wish was simply to have all of her grandchildren together with her for the celebration.
That stayed with me.
There was something deeply inspiring about watching someone at 80 continue creating experiences, gathering people together, and staying engaged with the world around her.
It made me think about how often people unconsciously decide their lives are becoming smaller long before they actually have to, or need to.
We see adventurous, vibrant people and sometimes think of them as “other people.” We admire their lives from a distance instead of recognizing that many meaningful experiences are built through small decisions repeated over time.
A trip gets booked.
A dinner gets hosted.
A friendship gets prioritized.
A new hobby gets explored.
A gathering gets planned.
A conversation finally happens.
A fuller life is rarely created all at once.
It is usually built one “yes” at a time.
Continuing to Live Expansively
Turning 50 does not feel like narrowing to me.
If anything, it feels like becoming more intentional about how I want to live.
More present. More connected.
More willing to participate fully in my own life.
I do not think adventure has an age limit.
And I hope I never start acting like it does!
The same mindset — staying curious, staying present, saying yes before you feel completely ready — is something I bring to every Palo Alto seller I work with.
The List Is Still Evolving
Perhaps surprisingly, I still have not fully written down my “50 Things for 50” list.
Some of it exists in my head. Some of it has happened naturally as opportunities appear. Some of it has grown out of conversations with friends, including my friend, who started creating bucket-list ideas in a shared note with me a few years ago simply as a way to imagine what else life could still hold for us.
And honestly, I think the unfinished nature of the list is part of the point.
Life is still unfolding.
Some experiences are larger adventures. Travel. Gatherings. Milestones.
Others are much quieter.
A long walk with someone I love.
Learning a new skill. Hello power tools!
Creating more space for beauty, stillness, and Nature.
Spending time with people who energize me.
Making time for community.
Allowing myself to remain curious.
Reflections on Aging, Adventure, and Living Fully
Why are more women becoming more open about aging?
Many women are beginning to view aging less as something to hide and more as an opportunity to live more intentionally. Conversations around aging are shifting away from limitation and toward experience, confidence, and personal growth.
What does “50 Things for 50” mean?
For many people, milestone birthdays become an opportunity to reflect on experiences, goals, relationships, and adventures they still want to pursue. The idea is less about completing a checklist and more about staying engaged with life.
Why do small adventures matter?
Meaningful experiences are not always large or dramatic. Often, small moments such as local travel, community gatherings, learning something new, or spending intentional time with people you care about create the strongest sense of fulfillment and connection.
How can people stay engaged and curious as they get older?
Remaining open to new experiences, prioritizing relationships, staying physically active, and continuing to pursue personal interests all help create a more vibrant and connected life at any age.
How did a month in Spain change how you think about time?
Spain has a different relationship with time than we do in the United States — shops close between 2 and 5 each afternoon so people can go home, share a long lunch, and simply pause in the middle of the day. Nobody apologizes for it. It is simply how life is structured. What struck me most was how completely natural that rhythm felt after a few weeks, and how it shifted something in how I think about my own days. In Spain, people work to live — they do not live to work — and sitting inside that reality for a month, rather than just admiring it from a distance, changed what I believe deserves to be protected in a life well lived.
