Is 120 The New 90?

There are those moments in ones life, when in a heartbeat, everything changes.

A few months ago, I had a brush with one of those moments, and it really reset my focus on life. Having dinner with friends in our dining room, I look out the window and see an orange ball of light. Within seconds of noticing that light, we hear a furious pounding on our front door.

“Get out, the house is on fire.”

Rick grabs Sam, our cat, and we run out the door.

Our house was not on fire, but our neighbours home was engulfed in flames.

We stand helplessly watching and waiting to see if the trees attached to our property and theirs would also catch fire and take our home down as well.

3 hours of watching embers fly. Waiting to see our fate. With grace and prayer, we were lucky to be safe, home intact with no damage. Our neighbours new build was burnt to the ground, but no lives lost.

The next day I was still shaken and left with a strong reflection of how when I went back to our cottage, I had no impulse to take or save anything. I had everything precious and of value to me, Rick and my dear Sam. These are all that mattered. Life throws us these moments, the moments you can not control and when you just have to surrender to what will be.

It’s the ability to adapt that we all have in common.

To survive is in our DNA.

What we focus on is our superpower.

Focus on what you have, not what you don’t.

How would that change your day to day life?

What if you found out you were going to live to be 100 or that you really have another 50 years?

I believe it’s all in how we look at things. What we focus on.

We all have a choice on how we interpret things that happen to us.

In therapy I learned, it’s not WHAT happens to you it’s HOW you react.

It means you have a choice on how you handle what is thrown your way.

That expression changed my life and how I live it.

My doctor recently told me she has patients who handle a cancer diagnosis with a positive attitude. She also sees perfectly healthy patients who deal with life’s daily dilemmas with unwell attitudes.

It is all our choice and that choice is our power!

Steve Harvey spoke about a mind shift where you simply change a few words in your vocabulary. Change ‘have to’ to ‘get to’.

I get to go to work.

I get to go exercise.

Say that the next time you're on the treadmill.

What if you turned your thoughts to thinking that you have the next 50 years ahead of you?

What if we all assumed we would live to 100?

It’s perfectly realistic. The likelihood of living longer is a fact.

What if you start that project you only dreamed about? Maybe you think you’re too old so you decide to ditch it. If you knew you had another 50 years would you reconsider?

The 16 year old who has the same dream of starting a new adventure is going to take your idea, because she doesn’t think she will run out of time and by the time she is 25 she will be on her way to being a success.

If you don’t ask, you will not receive.

It’s a matter of rewiring and rewriting the script, without the timelines.

I am trying to lead my life with ‘what if’ in a positive light.

What if I live to 120? Well, I better choose wisely in selecting what will help take me there.

What if I keep working and not retire...who says we have to stop? Maybe we just need to change what we do to remain stimulated and satisfied.

What if I surround myself with like-minded people and let go of the not so positive thinkers?

What if I make daily intentions that help me ‘rewire’ my thoughts?

What if I choose to look at all the silver linings in things that don't go as planned?

‘What ifs’ allow the world of possibility to present itself.

Would you want any 16 year old to jump ahead of you in line?

We still have time and more importantly the confidence and wisdom to do what we please.

Focus on what you have, not on what you don’t.