Grown-up Thoughts

This past December I turned 37. Leading up to my birthday I did not have any particular thoughts about it, but in the following days I started to think about how I’m closing in on 40 now, and that’s quite a weird feeling.

It seems a particularly Generation X (and onward?) thing to talk about not-feeling-like-an-adult. I am sure it is a pretty universal feeling everyone has at some point, but my generation seems to voice it more often. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, generally. Oftentimes it comes with an empowering response of self-definition. Take the classic xkcd #150, for example:

I guess I feel cliché talking about how weird it feels to be approaching 40, but here I am. Several times I have thought “Wow, 40 is about half of your life. What are you going to do with the second half?” It can be an overwhelming feeling until I remind myself that it’s not something I have to decide right now and am then locked into for-evvv-er.

For the most part, I do feel like an adult, and I am pleased with the life choices I have made thus far. What I am realizing is that “I Don’t Feel Like an Adult” is just a chapter in the book, not the title of the book. “I Don’t Know What It Means To Be Forty” is an upcoming chapter. Other chapters include: “You’re Funny, Dammit! Nevermind Their Groans,” “Whittling 101,” and “Using Humor to Deflect Your Insecurities.”

A bit of housekeeping: the comment form is back! So let me know what you think about your age, soon-to-be age, or other chapters you want to see in my book.