"Too young to be unhappy. Too old to waste my time." ab/kc (c) 2012
I wrote this line in a poem I wrote to commemorate my 39th birthday. It's been coming to mind a lot lately. The deeper I get into my 40's, the truer it becomes. If there was any advice I would write down and pass on to folks in their 20's it would be a slightly paraphrased version of this: "Life is too long to be unhappy and too short to waste your time." Live out loud and live it to the fullest. Don't let inconsequential people waste your time and cherish every moment you get with the people who matter. Because one day you wake up and you're 45 and you wonder "How the heck did that happen?" because you still feel 25 in your heart but your knees tell you something different. LOL!
All of the recent deaths of folks in their 40's has caused me to feel the fullness of my mortality. And that feeling motivates me to as fully, as large, and louder than I ever have before. Tomorrow is not promised and time really waits for no one. I always get real contemplative this time of year. My birthday is less that 2 months away and so I start recapping the personal year that's passing and evaluating how I will embark on the year to come and the themes I will take with me into my personal new year to propel me forward. I haven't formulated them all but I know the quote from my poem above and the words of James Taylor below will be guiding thoughts:
"walk on if you're walking even if it's an uphill climb.
And try to remember that working's no crime, just don't let 'em take and waste your time." ~ James Taylor
