Over the weekend, I celebrated my birthday. It was low key and exactly what I wanted this year. I started the day with my free Grand Slam breakfast at Denny’s.
I will now be checking a different demographic box on the surveys I love to complete, since my age now ends in a five. I’m also no longer in an age group that the networks target for advertising. That’s always seemed silly since I have more disposable income now than I ever had before, but no great loss to me since I tend to forget what product ads are for anyway.
I received a very thought-provoking birthday wish from one of my friends from high school. He wrote, “Thank goodness we have Facebook to remind us of the unstoppable passage of time, rather than enjoying the never-ending pastures of our youth, unfettered by yearly passings of the big clock hand.” I’ve been thinking about that ever since.
I loved high school, even though I wasn’t one of the popular people. I had my niche. I was firmly embedded in the honors group – I didn’t doubt my right to be there. I knew the rules; I followed them. Life was good.
Who would have thought that some thirty-ish years later I would be the one writing work processes (rules)? Better yet, I am paid to nag people into following them and tattle when they don’t. (Isn’t that a more accurate description than compliance enforcement?)
While some tendencies have stayed the same (okay, a lot), thank goodness not all of them have. Growing up, I was afraid all the time that people wouldn’t like me for me. I was afraid of trying new things, afraid that I might not be good at it on the first try, which in my teenage brain meant I never would be. Leaving that behind in my early 30s was a conscious choice and a very good one.
I look back fondly on my time in high school but not longingly. I know to look through the windshield for my best years, not the rear view mirror. And that is a good place to be.
How much have you changed since high school? or Am I alone in thinking my best years are yet to come?
Grown Up, Now What? 