I am 49 today and to be honest, for the very first time since I started celebrating my birthday, I feel every year of my new age in my bones and heart. However, I am grateful because I’m one of the lucky ones who get to celebrate another birthday. Every birthday is a reminder of precious life and our mortality, cos let’s face it, every birthday brings us a step closer to our graves.

However, there is something about my 49tth birthday that has been bugging me. I felt like it was consumed by thoughts of the 50th birthday milestone. I keep reminding myself that 49th is important in and of itself. You can’t just skip a year to jump into the 50th. If I were the 49th birthday, I’d be slightly annoyed because after all I deserve recognition too. Every Birthday Life Matters. Maybe this is what middle child feels like, ignored for the first or last born.

Anyway, I have made a conscious decision to be fully present in my 49th year on planet earth and not live it as a stepping stone to my 50th. Today, and indeed the very minute we are in, is all we’ve got, the next minute, tomorrow or next year is not promised. Instead of the mindset that I am going to use my 49th to prep the grounds for that mighty 50s, I’m going to live my 49tth for the sake of my 49th. Cherish it for what it is, the last of my very eventful, memorable 40s, filled with precious life memories of good health, success, love, and sadness.

Top on my list of to dos in my new age is to take better care of my physical and mental health. Be consistent. Do not make the gym a distant memory of something I used to be great at. BTW, I deserve a cookie medal for fitting into my very form-fitting birthday jumpsuit!

Step out of my queendom and go out to interact more with mere mortals, maybe even go on a few dates, yuk and ew! I do need to step out of my comfort zone.

Most importantly, honour the memories of the loved ones I’ve lost in the past year by living fully, and not just existing for work and my tempting sofa.

Do more of the things I loved doing which have taken a backseat in recent years. Write and blog more, go back to making videos discussing issues close to my heart. Never stop dancing to my favourite tunes and bring out the camera while at it, also definitely take more selfies!

Happy birthday to me, this Lioness is ready to roar when needed and purr out of pure contentment too. At this age, I would say roaring is OK, purring is also OK. Afterall, contentment is pure bliss.