Random Thoughts, part 16: On turning 40 years old.

-


 Random Thoughts, part 16: On turning 40 years old. 


1. Apparently, even your eyelashes turn gray. Who knew?


2. My body is healthier and stronger than when I was 20 years old because I take better care of it. That's probably the biggest wisdom of this age. Take care of yourself. Exercise. Sleep. Don't ingest a lot of crap. 


3. This birthday does seem significant. It feels like an age when you still have so much ahead. So much to do, to look forward to, to enjoy. And yet, it feels like youthful things are behind you. You can finally let all that go.


4. My 25yo baby brother got married this year. I was 15 when when he was born. In that sense, 40 is basically the same as 15. I’m watching him be born into a new life. Marriage changes everything.


5. How does one prioritize when there is so much important to do with so little time?


6. This seems like the time in life to learn to say “no” or “hell yes.” There is no room for in-between. No more shrugs, “sure,” “ok,” “why not.” 


7. People keep telling me that 40s is a great decade, and I believe them.


8. Midlife crisis (noun). : a period of emotional turmoil in middle age characterized especially by a strong desire for change. merriam-webster.com


9. There is an incredible freedom that comes with this age. Knowing that “everything is basically fine.” Knowing that I will be fine, and I know how to take care of myself no matter what happens. 


10. I used to write 20 things as a rule for these, but I’m 40 now and I’m done. Deal with it. 



————————————————

“Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.” 

-Elvis Presley


“I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.” 

-Maya Angelou


“At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgement.” 

-Benjamin Franklin


“Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.” 

-Victor Hugo


“You can dance in a hurricane, but only if you’re standing in the eye.” 

-Brandi Carlile



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Random thoughts, part 14: on death, love, and permanence.

-
Image
On death, love, and permanence.  1. The two times I have been touched by death - dad and paw paw - the thing that struck me most was how close they still were at that moment. They were right there, so close. Their bodies were right there, but their smell - gone. Their touch - distant. Their deaths were both so sudden, gone in an instant. My paw paw I was mentally prepared, but dad?? How was he sharing vacation photos with me just 3 weeks ago? How was he commenting on my photos the day before he died? How was he still warm and resting right in front of me when I had to say good bye, yet he was gone forever and couldn’t hear me? How did I not get a chance to tell him good bye and that I love him? Just gone in an instant.  2. My dad told me he loved me unconditionally. And I knew that. I hope he knew the same from me.  3. Dad,  I didn’t leave home because I reject it. I was just trying to carve my own way.   4. It’s not fair that his parents ...
Read more

forward with purpose.

-
I've been listening to NPR on my commute, and they've been talking about the Washington state school system "crisis" regarding their soaring budget needs while admitting poor results... I'm hearing this stuff on the radio at the same time as reading the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson… All of it really makes me wonder. Wonder about a lot of things, but primarily… what is it that makes people great? First and foremost, it makes me think that nothing ever got better by hucking a bunch of money at it. There has to be a vision. A plan. And maybe even something that could be realized with less or no money if the idea is great enough. Secondly, we have to start taking ownership of our jobs and roles in society again. Great teachers are great teachers because they have decided to become great. Same as most professions. No doubt, money and equipment and a good support system help, but one of my best teachers was paid probably $35,000 a year and worked in t...
Read more

'f' the system.

-
Image
In a recent desperate cry for help with my current existential career crisis, my sister pointed out an interesting and enlightening observation about my recent theme of processing with a statement to the nature of: I am boiling down all of my problems to a simple issue... the ethics of dying... when, in fact, most of my frustrations seem to reflect a much more complex systems flaw in a setting of deep personal discontent. She suggests that remaining in an extended, artificial, structured, and underpaid academic environment (i.e. Fellowship) may not lend the complete answer that I am searching for. When I think about it, she is probably correct. I suppose it is quite easy to boil down all your problems to something that you have an innate passionate feeling about. I see people doing this all the time. For an individual person, everything that is "wrong" or "right" in the world really comes down to a single thing that they feel very strongly about, for example, being ...
Read more