There are moments in every life that change you. Some for the better.  Others for the worse. But some moments could go either way and it’s up to us to decide. Promotions, moves, weddings, deaths, births, birthdays, divorce, they aren’t as black and white as they may seem. Life is messy. We all have mile markers in our lives that profoundly shape our world. 

My divorce was one of those ‘could-go-either-way’ milestones. I was cut to the core, sad and angry. Mostly I was scared, really scared. The world I knew was ripped out from under me. And seriously, could the timing have been any worse? I was entering that almost 50 phase of life! Jeez, talk about a double whammy! But in between the ‘head-down power through’ moments and the sobbing fits of grief, I knew only one thing for sure. I didn’t want this mile marker to change me for the worse. 

I had seen it happen to other people. Difficult mile markers have a way of making us shrink, doubt, to become a smaller, dimmer version of ourselves. They can change our capacity for love and trust and faith. The scared feeling in my gut told me I could easily take that route. I needed to do something drastic and big to anchor me in a different, better future. I needed to remind myself that those mile markers, just like the good ones, are simply stops on the way to who we are meant to be.  

MileMarker 50 is the resurrection of a lost dream and the promise of possibility.

Maybe your life isn’t exactly the way you expected it to be either.  Maybe something didn’t turn out the way you thought it would, or someone hurt you, or you experienced a painful loss or massive failure. So what? Join the club. It doesn’t have to change you for the worse. This isn’t where your story ends.

My sister Rene sent me this quote and I love everything about it.

Everyone’s mile markers are different and so is the response needed to get you back on the road to your life. 

• For you, it might be a single trip to a bucket list destination.
• It might be a needed weekend away with friends or ‘me-time’ you never take for yourself.
• It might be disconnecting from your own crazy and finding yourself in the quiet of a new place without distractions.
• Perhaps it’s making a bold move or trying something new that reminds you what you are capable of doing/being.
• Maybe it’s the promise of reaching your own lost goal by a certain time and learning it’s never too late.

See, MileMarker 50 is for those of you who have decided to make those tough milestones change you for the better. It is deciding that you will rise above whatever it was that brought you to your knees.

MileMarker50 is bigger than a trip to visit 50 places I’ve never been the year I turn 50.  It’s about dreams and hope and living in spite of those things that feel like they can kill us.