How would you celebrate your 100th birthday? 

Here in the UK, if you reach the ripe old age of 100, you’ll get a birthday card from the reigning monarch. The card is personalised, from the King or Queen themself, wishing you a very happy birthday. If you’re lucky enough to reach your 105th birthday, you’ll get another card then and one every year for the rest of your life. It’s a nice touch, and something I know the older generation really aspire to. 

Celebrating a birthday is always fun, but as you get older it can start to get a little less exciting. Vodka shots and wild parties turn into dinner out in a nice restaurant, and before you know it, your birthday celebrations are just blowing out candles on the cake while wrapped in a warm blanket. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way… Meet Al Blaschke. When Al reached his 100th birthday, he wanted to do something special. Something more exciting than eating cake. So he booked his first ever skydive and jumped 9000ft out of a plane. Now, you might be thinking that’s enough excitement for a centenarian, but not for Al. Fast forward a few years, and he’s gone and done it again – this time setting the world record for oldest skydiver at 106 years old! 

Now, I’m not suggesting we should all book a skydive – some of us like to keep our feet firmly on the ground. But I do think there’s something we can learn from Al… You see, most people would have decided that they were “too old” to do a skydive. But not Al. Al didn’t listen to his fears, the naysayers or his limiting beliefs. Al could have easily thought to himself, “Oh I’d love to do a skydive, but I’m too old. No one skydives at 100”, but he didn’t.He just did it. 

How often in life are we held back, not by the reality of a situation, but by our beliefs about the situation? How many things would you like to do, but you don’t because of some limiting belief that’s only inside of your mind? I say let’s take a leaf out of Al’s book. Challenge your thinking and take the leap (not necessarily out of a plane, though) and do that thing you’ve been wanting to do… Who knows where it might take you? 

So tell me, what would you love to do but haven’t done because you believe it “isn’t possible”? I’d love to hear your thoughts…