Category: Leaving a trail for our Son

All Mid Life Celebration posts from 2008 – 2014.

Mid Life Change Eh?

“To be human is to change.  To be perfect is to change often.” — Henry Newman

Heard this last Sunday at Church.  It resonated. I immediately wrote it down, because it reminds me what I’m trying to say at Mid Life Celebration.

Mid Life Celebration, or as some say, mid life crisis, is a time to:

  1. Rethink
  2. Reprioritize
  3. Recommit

The above three also happen to be the tag line here at Mid Life Celebration, which is two years old now.

That’s all it is. Do those three. And then start the process over again.

PS.  The domain name is two years old, but I’ve been using the phrase in a variety of ways for 11 years, since my mid life crisis celebration began.

Mid Life Celebration on You Tube

Mid Life Celebration.  It’s the antithesis of mid life crisis. Same thing, different outlook.

Attitude makes all the difference, doesn’t it?  Whether it’s personal or professional, attitude is a way to excel in anything.

jeff noel (that’s me), founder at Mid Life Celebration, was traveling through Columbia, South Carolina a few days ago and noticed this airport hallway billboard.

To be excellent once, or maybe twice, is a huge accomplishment. But to do it eight straight years, well, unbelievable.

But that’s exactly what Lexington Medical Center has done. Here’s the one-take-You Tube video with my commentary:

You know what watching this video does for me? It reminds me that attitude is everything and also that much can be gained by reinforcing simple principles like this. Ya with me?

Joy of Doing Without

It is a mid life goal to learn how to live simply, so that others may simply live.

This is one of the toughest life lessons to reverse.  Everything we see or hear in the media, tells us more is better.

I’m teaching our son that less is more, not more is better.

Assets become liabilities.  Seriously.

You get a nice car and then you worry about it being damaged or stolen.  We live where most people drive upscale vehicles.

I drive a 20-year old car and love that it starts every time the key turns. Over a year ago, it was damaged when I was a victim of road rage.  I’m thankful to be alive.

Never fixed that front fender, a daily reminder of what’s important.

The joy of doing without is something I need help on everyday anyway.

Mid Life Distance

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” — Victor Borge

Hope you enjoyed the rare Mid Life Celebration blog post yesterday.

Rare?  Yes.  In fact, it was probably the first of it’s kind. A joke.  And it brought joy to post it.

I have it in me.  Really, I do.  Every one has a sense of humor, even me, and laughter is good medicine.

Just yesterday, I was in the Atlanta airport heading to Dallas, and asked a couple with grown children, “Any advice on raising boys”?

With the husband still thinking of an answer, the wife instantaneously responded, “Have a sense of humor!”

What are the odds?

The Faithful Nuns

Today’s Mid Life Celebration blog post is brought to you with great joy. Hope it brings you the same joy and laughter it brought me.

Two Nuns were driving down a country road when they ran out of gas.

They walked to a farmhouse, and a farmer gave them some gasoline. However, the only container he had was an old bedpan.

The Nuns were happy to take whatever they were offered and returned to their car.

As they were pouring the gasoline from the bedpan into the tank of their car, a minister drove by.

He stopped, rolled down his window and said, “Excuse me sisters, I’m not of your religion, but I couldn’t help admiring your faith.”