When I think back on my life it would be easy to focus on all that went wrong. The bridges I burned, the money I lost, the wasted time I spent chasing a dream that wasn’t mine. When I talk with other women my age our stories are pretty much the same. We did what we thought we should do and were sorry that we did what we shouldn’t have done. In the end though the time spent giving those parts of our past more than a moment of time doesn’t change anything. It just makes us feel bad… or less.

At 57 I understand what is called “the wisdom of the ages.” All those experiences have taught me well. We all make decisions based on the best possible information we have at the moment. I would not make the same decisions now that I did back then. Rather than live with regrets I choose to celebrate how far I’ve come.

Yes, perhaps our wisdom is born of pain. However out of that experience we become stronger and resilient. If we can then take all of that and see the humor in our past it can never cause us pain again. And that is true freedom.