As I am writing this blog, I am sitting on a plane heading home from Bali after a wonderful holiday and celebration of my 60th birthday. There is always a little feeling of sadness each time I leave Bali, but I am also excited to start on the next phase of this wonderful adventure called life. One of the great things I learned on this trip was to just let it be.

One of the main reasons for my trip, in addition to celebrating a significant milestone, was to hang out with my favorite ex-wife, Laura. Yes, I have more than one. We have decided that the love and friendship we have for each other is worthy enough for us being in each other’s lives.

On the day before my birthday, Laura and I had been out for dinner, and were just watching a movie, when Laura said, ‘I’ll hang out with you until midnight, so we can celebrate your birthday.’ At this point, it was about 9:30pm and I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’ll make it to midnight!’

Then I remembered, I was born on the stroke of midnight between the 19th and 20th of September. Bali is two hours behind Melbourne. So in fact, midnight in Melbourne is only 10pm in Bali. I said to Laura, ‘Actually I turn sixty in 30 mins.’ She said, ‘okay then, get ready we’re going out to celebrate.’ We got ready very quickly, because time was ticking (as it does), and we headed out to find a restaurant with live music.

At 9:55 we found one. We ordered drinks and very quickly 10pm Bali time (midnight Melbourne time) struck. Just like that, I was 60 years old. We celebrated, the band played ‘happy birthday’ and kept on playing as we sang and danced along with them. They started performing the song Let it be by the Beatles, and as we were singing along, all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks… I’m actually 60!

I slumped over, hands on my knees, hyperventilating and saying, ‘I can’t believe it, I am sixty. Sixty! How did that happen?’ just as I was hunched over in this position, the band started singing the chorus. Laura came over and tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up at her and she started singing to me, ‘Let it be, let it be, let it be, oh let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.’

We both started laughing and, just like that, I had let it be. I was over it, and we enjoyed the rest of the night. Right now, several days later as I have reflected on being sixty, the truth is, it is what it is and, it is how old I am, no matter what I think about it. So really, ‘let it be’ was the best advice I could have got in that moment. So, thanks Beatles, and thanks Laura for reminding me.

Now, over to you. What are you worrying about that you should just let be? When we worry about things over which we have no control, we steal from ourselves. We steal joy, we steal health, we steal creativity, we steal the moment we are in, and really, we steal the precious time we have on this planet. When you can let those things be, you will find wonder and amazement in everything you will open the door to enjoy.

In my podcast this week with Jonathan Marion, called Steps along the way, we discuss exactly how to let go of the wrong things and focus on what’s most important. It is a great conversation I encourage you to listen to. As I get back to life in Australia, I bring this memory and lesson with me. I hope that in the important and relevant areas you can just let it be.