Three days from now, I turn fifty.
Five “Oh.”
It makes me smile when I say it that way.
There’s something playful in it. A little wink at the number. A way to make something big feel a little lighter.
Five “Oh.”
And then, right after the smile, comes the pause.
Oh my.
This is fifty.
This is a real marker.
And maybe that’s why this year’s reflection feels different.
Every year around this time, I find myself looking back and looking ahead. I think about where I am, where I’ve been, what I’ve learned, and what I feel pulled toward next.
But this year has a different kind of quiet around it.
A different kind of honesty.
A different kind of weight.
The Push and the Pull
As I think about what comes next, I keep finding myself in this interesting place.
On one side, I feel very aware of time.
That sounds obvious, I know. Fifty has a way of doing that.
You start thinking about how fast some of it moved. You start thinking about the people you love. You start thinking about how much more you want to do, see, feel, build, give, and experience.
There’s a pull in that.
A real one.
I want to do more.
More of what matters. More of the work I feel called to do. More of the conversations that mean something. More of the moments I used to assume would always be available.
And at the same time, another pull has been getting stronger.
I want to slow down.
I want to feel more of the life I’m living while I’m living it.
That’s the tension I’ve been sitting with.
The desire to do more.
And the desire to do it more slowly.
The Thing I’m Starting to See
For much of my life, I think I tied “more” to speed.
Move faster. Push harder. Get to the next thing. Then the next. Then the next.
That mindset helped me in a lot of ways.
It built discipline. It built progress. It helped me chase things that mattered and create things I’m proud of.
But as I get closer to fifty, I’m starting to see something else.
Sometimes the race to the next mile marker can make you miss the mile you’re already in.
And that feels important to me right now.
Because the truth is, we live as though the next marker is guaranteed.
The next birthday.
The next dinner.
The next holiday.
The next conversation.
The next ordinary Tuesday with someone we love.
We build our lives with the quiet assumption that the road keeps giving us more.
And hopefully it does.
I hope it does.
But I want to live with a little more reverence for the mile I’m in.
The stretch of road beneath my feet.
The people walking it with me.
The moments I can still reach out and touch.
More… Slowly
That’s where the phrase keeps landing for me.
Doing more… slowly.
It sounds almost backward at first.
But maybe that’s why I like it.
It means I still want to build. I still want to create. I still want to grow my business, write, coach, speak, help people see something in themselves they may have forgotten, and make whatever impact I’m able to make.
That fire is still there.
Maybe stronger than ever.
But I want the pace of my life to have more presence in it.
More simplicity.
More room to actually experience what I’m working so hard to create.
I want to sit at the table a little longer.
Listen a little better.
Laugh a little easier.
Let the small moments have their full weight.
Take the ups and downs with a simpler question in my heart:
Am I moving forward with purpose?
Am I spending time with the people I care about most?
Am I making, or at least trying to make, a positive impact?
Am I inspired?
Am I here?
Really here?
The People in the Mile
When I strip it all down, this is where I land.
The people.
The ones who would miss me most.
And the ones I would miss most.
That thought carries weight for me.
Because life has a way of making us schedule the people who should never feel scheduled.
The call we can make later.
The visit we can fit in soon.
The dinner we rush through because something else is waiting.
I want to do that less.
I want to protect more of that time.
Stretch it.
Be inside of it.
Watch the moments as they happen instead of only appreciating them after they become memories.
That may be the deepest part of this reflection for me.
I still want to chase what matters.
I just want to stop racing past who matters.
The Next However Many
So here I am.
Three days before fifty.
Five “Oh.”
A smile.
A pause.
An oh my.
A marker that feels fun and serious and strange and beautiful all at once.
I’m humbly starting again in a lot of ways. In business. In life. In how I think about ambition, time, success, impact, and the kind of man I want to keep becoming.
I have no idea how many mile markers are ahead.
One.
Two.
Forty.
I hope for many.
But my aim is changing.
I want to make the mile count.
The one I’m in.
With purpose.
With love.
With presence.
With simplicity.
With the people who matter most.
Feeling the life I’m living while I’m living it.
Here’s to the next however many.
And here’s to doing more… slowly.
P.S. Quick reminder that my first book, Leadership at the Dinner Table is only a few months away. Jump on the waitlist.
With Absolute Sincerity,
Ed Clementi
Founder & CEO of Inspired Fire, LLC
Make an Impact and Feel an Impact!
