If you’ve lived to be 60 and over, you’ve probably made a few mistakes along the way. Do you find yourself looking back and wishing you hadn’t made them? I know I do sometimes.

You may be thinking, “I wish I’d made better financial choices when I was younger.” Or, “How did I get mixed up with a man with an alcohol problem?”

No matter what has happened in your past, it has shaped who you are today. You have either become a victim to it or have overcome whatever obstacles you stumbled into. We all make mistakes, the key is to look at them as learning opportunities.

Making Mistakes Is How We Grow as People

Were you a wild thing in your youth? Maybe you did drugs or had too many sexual partners. As Baby Boomers, we were children of the 60s and 70s. Life was free and loose.

Have you continued to live on the fly, throwing caution to the wind, or have you turned your life around and are doing things to preserve your health and well-being?

As we grow older, we either make lifestyle changes as a means of preservation or become resigned to the fact that we screwed up our lives. I’m hoping you chose the former. Life may throw us lemons, but we always have the choice to make sweet lemonade rather than rancid fruit.

Here are some tips to look beyond the mistakes you made in the past.

Realize You Have Free Will

If you’re stuck in a bad relationship, financial situation, or even a health crisis, you have the choice to turn your life around.

Realize you don’t have to cower to fate. You can change your outcome if you have the right mindset. Focus on how you can turn a bad situation to a good one, rather than the other way around.

Decide What You Want in Life

Are you still wondering what you want to be when you grow up? Some of us still are.

Make a conscious list of what you want to accomplish moving forward. Is it more travel? Do you want a happy relationship? Would you like to make more money so you can retire in style? It’s all possible even when you think it isn’t.

Map Out the Steps You Need to Take to Accomplish Your Goals

In her book, The Secret, author Rhonda Byrne writes about the law of attraction: “What you think about you bring about.”

However, just thinking about what you want, isn’t enough. It will set the intention in your mind, which is important, but unless you map out the steps and take the necessary actions to achieve the goal, it will never manifest.

Get Help When You Need It

It’s easy to try to solve all your problems on your own, but most often, we need help and support from others. If your spouse or family are the cause of your problem, find help on the outside. You may need to find a friend, a mentor, or even a therapist, depending on the depth of your circumstance.

Don’t be afraid to let others know you are struggling and ask for their feedback. Just be wary of what advice they give you, do research, and get a second opinion before making major life decisions.

Focus on Your Health

It’s difficult to overcome a bad situation if you are feeling poorly. Eat ‘real’ food, exercise at least a little each day, get regular doctor checkups, don’t smoke, and drink alcohol in moderation. Good health heals your mindset and will give you the ability to overcome the obstacles you are facing.

Believe in a Higher Power

You don’t have to be religious, in the conventional sense, but know that there are powers in the universe that you can tap into whenever you need to, for strength.

Absolve Yourself of Past Mistakes

Whatever you did that you regret is in the past. Today is the beginning of your life moving forward. Run with it and be happy.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

How often do you think you are a victim of your past decisions? What do you do to brush off your mistakes and move forward? Please share any tips you found helpful in your life journey.