Cheers to the Years!

31 years of learning boiled down into 10 handy tips

Last night—on my birthday eve—Ethan and I talked about how we’re feeling old. How it feels like we’ve left young adulthood behind, now that we’re firmly in our third decade of life. Thirty sounded sexy, we agreed; thirty-one just sounds like a sensible bag company.

Sometimes I get a little lost in that, feeling a bit like a sensible bag myself. Every so often I get the urge to do something wild, something irresponsible that reminds me that a tricenarian can still have fun, like buying unrealistic underwear or leaving the kitchen a mess for the night. But mostly, I feel like I’m growing into myself. I feel that I’ve been middle-aged in my soul for most of my life; now I starting to have the years to match.

When I woke up this morning, my first thought was, Thank you God for thirty-one remarkable years of life. Isn’t it remarkable? That all of us, in our fragile earthly bodies, have come this far, through so much, still with hearts beating and lungs breathing? [As I often remark on particularly tantrum-y toddler days—it’s a wonder any of us made it past the age of 3!] But truly—what an honor it is to live another day and to love the people around us while we’re here.

Before bed last night, I said to Ethan, “I don’t even care that I’m getting older. I like myself more every year.” [He made a smart remark about how I’m growing more humble each year, too.] But it’s true. If I could choose to go back to my twenties and have that deliciously flat tummy and glamorous pace of life again, but have to turn in what I’ve learned and how I’ve grown, I would say no. A million times. Learning is hard-won, and it’s gritty, and I would never give up what I’ve earned so slowly and—at times—painfully. It is not flashy or brilliant but it is fabulously useful, and I quite appreciate who it is turning me into.

If I could choose to go back to my twenties and have that deliciously flat tummy and glamorous pace of life again, but have to turn in what I’ve learned and how I’ve grown, I would say no. A million times.

I often feel silly writing about ‘what I know,’ because I know that I what I know is minuscule in comparison to all there is to know. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in these first three decades, it’s that you don’t have to know everything in order to throw your hat in the ring. You just have to throw it in. So this is me, offering up a few things I’ve learned so far that are making life better all the time.