Engineered Eloquence

Age is just a number

Decades are different. I cannot be sure why. In our base-10 system of numerics, we focus on the zeros more than we focus on anything else.

Age is just a number. Understood and agreed, but as those numbers get higher, there is a natural proclivity toward introspection and seeking wisdom (sociopaths and narcissists need not apply).

I am turning 40 next week. I will admit that this one seems to hit different than others, probably because of the narrative elements proclaiming that this number equates to "mid-life", but who are we kidding; once my generation gets there, making it to 80 may be a rare blessing.

Age is just a number. I have three kids who bring me joy, stress, and exhaustion every day; I broke my clavicle a couple years ago, which slowed me down; and I have more aches and pains naturally these days. All of that is true regardless of my age.

No one ever talks about the fact that your own pillow (as opposed to the hotel one or your sister's guest ones) becomes the only pillow you can use without feeling it the next day. I consider myself in relatively good health and I still have to think in these terms at times.

Age is just a number. Are you a decade-just-beginning or -just-ending type of thinker? Depending on your level of optimism, one can think of it as the beginning of new times or the end of better times.

I find that I have become more focused on prioritizing what matters to me, now more than ever. I would prefer to read with my kids than stress over the most recent fabrication of the hype machine. I could spend this time doom-scrolling o aprendiendo una lengua nueva, ¿verdad?

Age is just a number. I have dreams; I have goals; I am prepared for what those finish lines will require of me, in a way I was never prepared for when I had all the time in the world. Youth is wasted on the young.

This decade will be an interesting one, full of new experiences, new priorities, new challenges, only in an older skin. I will almost assuredly make mistakes, be disappointed, and fall on hard times, but likewise, I will rise above it and look to the future with integrity, honesty, and intentionality.

Age is just a number. Here's to a new set.