32 Thoughts From a 32-Year-Old

This is the first year I forgot how old I was. Like really forgot and had to do the math, several times, as recently as yesterday morning.

I’m not saying I’m old. That would be a lame joke. It’s just that this is the first year where my age really didn’t matter at all. Because once you have kids, nobody asks anymore. They want to know how old they are. You’re just a firmly established adult now, which after spending almost all of my twenties as the “I can’t believe you’re only _ _” guy, is actually a nice change.

Nevertheless, I think it’s a mistake for people my age to think about how young they are — to think of getting old and dying as something that happens way off in the future. Instead, I prefer Seneca’s observation, the one about how death isn’t this thing that happens once but as something that is happening right now. We are dying everyday, he said, and each second that passes is lost to death. If we can think that way then we can truly live and not take anything for granted.

You can read what I wrote (and what I learned) over the years in the series of posts I’ve done on my birthdays. I think the first one I did was when I turned 20, but here is 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31. As for this year, here are some thoughts I’ve had and lessons that I’ve learned. Maybe they’ll save you some trouble. Or maybe you’ll have to learn them on your…