I’m 50. Here Are 7 Things a Veteran Should Know By 40

I just hit the half-century milestone: 50 years old! If only I could give my younger self some advice, I would impart these seven things.

You can subscribe here to AARP Veteran Report, a free e-newsletter published twice a month. If you have feedback or a story idea then please contact us here.

1. Build a personal résumé. For the better part of your adult life, you have put significant effort into building your professional résumé. You have served your nation, you have trained and you may have deployed overseas, in combat even. All that experience became incredible bullet points for your professional résumé. Now that your professional résumé is created, it is time to work on your “personal” résumé bullets, from exploring a new hobby to setting new goals outside work and focusing on your professional development.

2. Make fitness a priority. Those early mornings sometimes came way too early. Physical fitness at zero dark thirty did not seem too appealing at the time. Yet those military training sessions were a necessity and energized you. Now that you have moved on from service, fitness should still be a priority. In fact, it needs to be a priority. Your body needs physical fitness as you age to keep your heart healthy, lower stress and manage your weight.

AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal

Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.

Join Now

3. Keep a schedule. In uniform, everything ran like clockwork. Your leader, or designate, would schedule things, and you showed up at the time and place. Now that you are out, it is time to schedule yourself. Whether it is as simple as scheduling a morning gym session, time reading or dealing with those chores, it will keep you on track.

4. Learn to slow down. The military profession had you going a million miles a minute: be here, stay there, do this, do that — and do all this fast! Your faster-is-better attitude may have followed you into the civilian profession and into your personal life. At this juncture, take a step back and slow down. You should plan your tasks to keep from burning out. Slow down. There is time.