Not only is it my birthday, it’s my 40th birthday, which is supposed to be about rocking chairs and cakes with RIP written on them in big letters. I really wanted to avoid all of that silliness. Not so much because I’m embarassed or depressed or anything, but mostly because I don’t want to even start thinking like 40 is an end to anything. Or that youth really has that much value.
Let me be old for a second, and give everyone younger than me a little advice. The only thing that is constant in life is that nothing is constant. The only thing that stays true through your life is that things change.
That sounds kind of harsh, I know, but it’s really kind of an exciting proposition, if you think about it. (Okay, it’s not exciting if you realtly like the daily grind, but how many of us only want that from life?) Every day, your entire universe remakes itself. You can bowl through it in the same pattern, on autopilot, while it wriggles underneath you like a snake. Or you can ride the differences. Get up early. Try a new food. Do something you’ve never done before.
That’s what I’m trying to do right now. I’m trying to meet new people. I’m trying new things, like playing guitar and painting. I’m revisiting old things, like writing.
So maybe 40 for me is about remaking who I am. Becoming a sculptor of myself. Let’s see what I can make of myself in the years to come.
GapPage 