The older I get, the more I realize age is just a number.

This week, I turned 51.

But for the last couple of months, I’ve been saying that I’m turning 52. It’s funny how that works.

The older I get, the less my age matters to me.

When I was younger, it was all about hitting those age milestones. It was all I thought about. I couldn’t wait to get to the next milestone.

At 16, I could drive.

When I was 18, I could vote.

At the age of 21, I could legally drink.

When I turned 30, I felt I had accomplished a lot, as I had already given birth to three children.

By 40, we had adopted three more children, so that was a very important part of my life. There is a lot of growth in motherhood, so I felt I had gained a lot of wisdom in those early years of mothering six children.

At 50, honestly, life was pretty uneventful.

I’ve never been a big birthday celebration person.

This isn’t because getting older bothers me. It actually doesn’t bother me at all except for the aches and pains I get on a regular basis.

The truth is, I just feel like it’s any other day.

I know it drives my husband crazy. He’s constantly asking me what I want for my birthday, but I really don’t want anything. I already have everything I need.

Sure, I appreciate gifts, but it’s not part of my thought process when it comes to birthdays. What I appreciate most is being with the people I care about.

I love my life, and I love what my husband and I have created together. The older we get, the more there is to love about it.

While others may dread getting older, for me, age really doesn’t matter at all.

Age is really just a number.

I really am at a point in my life where I truly believe age is only a number you tell people and has nothing to do with who you actually are.

Of course, as your body ages, things start to hurt, and your body falls apart in certain ways. You get more wrinkles, you have more trouble losing weight, and things don’t quite work like they used to.

There are a lot of different pieces that come along with aging.

But for me, the greatest thing that comes along with age is a sense of peace. It’s the ability to be able to say, “I’m happy where I am.”

And if you can’t say this, and you’re not happy with where you are, that’s not because of your age. It’s because of how you see yourself.

If you’re not happy with who you are, change the way you see yourself. Recognize all the amazing things you have going for you in your life and all the things you’ve accomplished.

Age signifies how long we’ve lived on the earth.

The number of years we’ve lived doesn’t define who we are, what we’ve achieved, or what we’re still going to be able to accomplish.

You can achieve anything at any age. Whether you’re old or young or somewhere in between.

For me, I feel like I am starting a new chapter of my life. I’m creating a new business, doing my best to make a difference in the world, and enjoying every minute of it.

When I was younger, I didn’t have the confidence to do all that I am now doing.

I truly believe a part of gaining confidence comes with age and experience.

It is about looking outside of yourself and also looking within. It’s about recognizing you are already enough and telling yourself to go for it and that you can make it happen.

Age is a mindset.

I recently read an article that talked about the optimism effect. It advocated thinking optimistically about age and keeping that as a mindset.

Yes, your body is going to age. You are going to get wrinkles, and aches and pains are going to be an ongoing part of life.

That’s just part of your body moving through the aging process.

But changing your mindset allows you to see that you don’t have to rely on a number to define who you are.

Age is simply a number. It has no limitations on who you are or what you are capable of. The only limitations you have are those that you set for yourself.

Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.”

Those who are fearless will never let age define them.

It’s important that you embrace life fearlessly. Those who do will never grow old. They will always be up and doing and starting that next adventure.

They will find a greater and deeper purpose in life as they work to become the best versions of themselves.

Time has no imposed boundaries when life is lived on purpose.  And when time has no boundaries, age really is just a number assigned to us based on how many years we have lived.

The real question is, how are we going to live all the years we have ahead of us?

To really embrace the wonderful journey ahead of us, we have to live in such a way that we always remember that our age is just a number.

Just because we’ve gotten to a certain age doesn’t mean our life is winding down—it’s only just begun.

As children grow and people become empty nesters, so many struggle with questions of what they’re going to do next. Often they feel unsure of how to move forward.

I’m not an empty nester, yet. I have three and a half years—but I’m not really counting.

I’m no longer defining my life and my age by milestones.

Instead, I am looking ahead with confidence in the future.

I’m saying to myself, “This is what I want to do, and it doesn’t matter how old I am. I’m just going to keep trying until I do it.”

I’m going to be fearless and own who I am and what I want out of life.

It’s not about what someone else wants for me. Nor is it about how other people may define me. It’s all about what I want for myself.

This next year, I’m going to go out there and stay focused on what it is I want out of life.

I’m going to live my life on purpose. I hope you do too.

Never, ever let a number define who you are or all the good you can do.