Defining Age

I am here but am I really? My friends all around me are turning 40 one after another. I feel like I’m observing and taking notes. It’s funny how we all place such an emphasis on reaching a new decade in life; like it’s supposed to be a turning point or something. I started off the year doing the same. In reality, we simply are starting another year of our lives. Numbers and age are only a way of compartmentalizing things like stages, occurrences and lessons learned. Yes, there is a lot of truth to how much wiser we become as we age. We thought we knew it all as teenagers. Then we thought we had it figured out in our twenties. Then comes our thirties and we really believe that we didn’t know shit “back then”. We didn’t. As I now approach my forties I am realizing that I still don’t have all the answers. The difference is I know a hell of a lot more and can make wiser and sounder decisions based upon having lived more life. This is not something that comes by way of intelligence. It is rather only achieved with age and life experiences over the years. This is not to say there are no immature older people. The difference is as you age you are offered the tools with which to help guide you to choose more smartly. As we age, our ability to make excuses for dumb life moves diminishes more and more. I have little patience for those who don’t use those tools. In my life I can only hope that I will make the right decisions by leaning on what I have learned. I also believe those who we surround ourselves with, if chosen wisely, should be ones who we can trust to turn to and share our wisdom. After all, if we can’t, why have them around? So I come back to whether I am here or not. Am I living in this moment or merely passing the time? The bigger question is, throughout my life which have I been doing more of? If there is something that I should allow myself to attach to turning 40, it should be the answers to these questions. I’m certain I will be writing more on this as the year closes in. Right now, I need to try and sleep so that I may be alert for another busy work day.