10 life lessons I wish Id learned a decade ago

-Source-Business Insider- When I hit my 40th birthday someone gave me a coaster that read If you havent grown up by age 40 you dont have to. Recently I saw the same coaster only for age 50. I think its imperfect advice at either juncture. We all want to retain our childlike wonder about life of course. But there are a lot of grownup things that I learned between those two big round-number birthdays. Here are a few of the most important: 1. Youre not old yet. At 40 I was healthy and active but that date on the calendar seemed symbolic of my vanishing youth. A decade later I know that while aging is inevitable you really are only as old as you act and feel. Youll almost inevitably start looking a little older in your 40s but if you stay active and eat healthy youll still be able to do almost everything you could do in your 30s. 2. You dont need to quit playing sports. Ive been playing sports nearly all my life and Im still playing softball football and hockey in my 50s. Granted its flag football and beer-league hockey but people have been giving me variations of When are you going to quit? and Arent you getting too old for that? since I turned 30. I usually tuned it out but not as much as I should have. Dont stop moving even if you have to adjust your expectations and activity level down a little.