46 and appreciating life more than ever!

Today I’m turning 4️⃣6️⃣ which brings me closer to fifty years of age than I care to admit. However, after a very tough last year business-wise and witnessing death of a close friend earlier this year, I’m just enjoying each day and making sure I appreciate it when I’m journaling each morning.

Appreciating health ❤️

As a middle-aged man it’s easy to fall into the trap of complaining about the fact that I’m not in the best shape of my life anymore or that I gained weight and I can’t seem to drop it much despite eating healthy. Or that I can’t drink wine as often or as much as I used to.

Yeah, I’m aging, but I’m still in a good shape, I enjoy playing tennis with friends and I’m getting ready to compete in another triathlon later this year. And I run at least once a week with my middle daughter, or do TRX weight training with my eldest. I have no major injury and I’m in shape. Even my eyesight is not deteriorating much more.

Appreciating family 😍

Every family has its ups and downs but despite all that I’m blessed to be still surrounded by four amazing women: my wife and my 3 daughters. And they all seem to like spending time with me. We travel together, we do sports together (as mentioned above) and we just enjoy each other. And this summer we’ll be renting an RV (camper) yet again and we all can’t wait… it’s a family tradition at this point.

Appreciating friends 🤝

Being in your forties gives you this perspective to really see what matters and which relationships count. I have a group of friends that like me for who I am. Not what I am or which kind of influence I may or may not have. No pretending, no showing off, no superficial relationships. Just genuine friendships and hanging out with people I feel comfortable with. And some of them are my neighbors which adds to me feeling safe in my local tribe.

I’m choosing to spend more time after work with the friends around me than the ones on the social networks where relationships might be superficial or fake.

Appreciating business ✅

Now that the toughest year when I was struggling with cashflow and needed to downsize is behind me, I appreciate my business even more. I enjoy my work and enjoy serving my Nozbe customers. My team that stayed with me in these trying times is enjoying working with me and I love working with them. And we are staying true to our values of PSFF: Passion, Simplicity, Freedom and Fairness.

I don’t need to pretend I run a bigger business than I do. I don’t regret not scaling it aggressively just for the sake of making it bigger. I don’t need to adhere to any external expectations. I don’t care if someone dismisses my business as small on immature. I’m proud of it and after 18 years I’m still excited by the challenges ahead of me. Which I get to face at my own pace.

Appreciating the small things…

Each morning when I’m practicing a gratitude routine in my journal, I love answering the question about something SMALL I’m grateful for. The small things matter. Just like this LEGO lucky bamboo my wife got me for my birthday and I’m going to build tomorrow.

I just turned 46 and I appreciate life like never before. Each day is a blessing.