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NPR At 50: Life Advice From Listeners Who Hit The Half-Century Mark

Published May 9, 2021 at 4:59 PM EDT

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

As you've probably heard by now, NPR celebrated its 50th birthday this past week. So in preparation, we asked our listeners for some advice. And hundreds answered the call.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOOKER T. AND THE MG'S' "BEHAVE YOURSELF")

KARL COLON: My name is Karl Colon. I am from Yellow Springs, Ohio.

KRISTI THOMPSON: Kristi Thompson. I live in Lisbon, Portugal.

BILL TAMPLIN: My name is Bill Tamplin. And I live in southwest Virginia.

KIM BOSTWICK: My name is Kim Bostwick. And I live in Trumansburg, N.Y. That's Finger Lakes region. My training is as an evolutionary biologist. Now I am a permaculture person raising my kids (laughter).

PFEIFFER: In hopes of avoiding a midlife crisis here at NPR, we wanted to hear from people who've already hit this milestone. We're starting with Kim Bostwick because she believes a midlife crisis isn't something to avoid.

BOSTWICK: I get that you're going to think that I'm lame for even admitting that I had a midlife crisis, but I did. And it was great (laughter). And you know what I saw? I saw that I needed to change some things in my life.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOOKER T. AND THE MG'S' "BEHAVE YOURSELF")

BOSTWICK: Your midlife crisis is like your opportunity to look around and say, well, did I get where I wanted to go? And if I keep going in this direction, where does that lead? And is that someplace I want to go? That process of asking myself that got me really clear about the parts of my life that I loved and wanted to embrace and support and nourish and the parts that I needed to leave behind. And maybe the piece of advice is that, you know, there is something to say for maturing and experience, and that's what you have to look forward to as you age.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOOKER T. AND THE MG'S' "BEHAVE YOURSELF")

PFEIFFER: That was Kim Bostwick sharing her life advice. And if, like us, you have celebrated your 50-year milestone, we'd love to hear you share some of your hard-earned lessons. You can find our submission form on our Twitter page, @npratc.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOOKER T. AND THE MG'S' "BEHAVE YOURSELF") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.