So, let’s talk perspective for a moment.
On December 17, I’ll have been on this planet a marvelous 30 years.
That's roughly 10,958 days, 262,968 hours and (give or take) 15,778,090 minutes.
That’s a lot of time.
It’s funny because if you’ve never taken the time to quantify the sheer quantity (or lack thereof) of time you have been alive, it makes you realize how short life really is.
You see, I’ve talked about what the number 30 means in terms of dating — like the pressures to be married by this time — or how it’s this magical, mythical number that denotes the beginning of the end.
But amidst my minor age-related freak out about all I have or haven’t done in my 10,958 days, something pretty spectacular happened.
I had an epiphany.
The truth is, 30 is a bit scary.
It’s not the fact I’m 30. It’s not a big deal.
I don’t care I’m 30 instead of 29.
It’s that at 30, there is a whole hell of a lot I haven’t done with my life yet.
Looking back at it now, I know there is something I must accomplish over the next 30 years.
Age brings a much greater sense of internal clarity.
As much as you freak out about getting older, the truth is, it provides you with a clearer understanding and direction of where you want to push your future.
That’s obviously going to be drastically different for everybody, but for me, I’ve taken these precious few moments of clarity to start formulating what I want out of the next 30 years of my life.
I guess you could consider this my life breakthrough.
If you’re going to do one thing today, think about breaking up your life into thirds and realize the first third of your life is really just setting you up for the best life has to offer over your last 60-some odd years left on earth.
I have this habit of writing a lot of solid or flawed advice for people.
Most, if not all of it, has been taken from some sort of life experience I have gone through.
I feel I could have an impact on someone reading my words.
The tricky part is, I seldom (if ever) take my own advice.
Sometimes, I have this sad realization I can dish it, but quite honestly, I can't take the hard truth about the positives and negatives in my life.
So, this bit of clarity I have been afforded over the last couple of days to reflect on my life has really given me some amazing hopes, dreams and plans for what to do with the rest of my life.
The next step is to actually take these dreams and make them realities.
The fact of life is pretty simple. It’s short, startlingly so.
You have only a limited number of years, months, weeks, days and minutes to scrounge together moments and make the most of them.
For me, it’s always been a matter of doing what makes me happy.
I’m numero uno, and at times, that has been a definite detriment to those around me.
That’s going to change.
I’ve constantly bemoaned about my inability to find “the one" because in life, if you’re not with your soulmate and living every day with him or her, then what’s the point? Right?
Wrong.
I think life is, and always will be, about the journey.
Life is as much about the highs as it is about the lows.
The tricky part is being able to ascertain just the tiniest, little, minuscule moments in life that are truly remarkable.
Look, there’s no denying that over the last couple of months, I have been freaking (internally) about my age.
I have been wondering about what 30 means and about where I am and where I’m not.
That’s easy to do, and it's probably easy to understand.
What you need to realize, and what I needed to realize, is age is a number.
It is no more a defining characteristic than your job title, your eye color or your favorite band.
It is a part of me, but it is just a microcosm of who I am and who I want to be.
Realize that life is short, and appreciate it.
Realize the things that make you happy are things you should perpetually strive for and replicate.
Travel the world, fall in love, get a tattoo, make mistakes and live your life.
Do what makes you happy, and if you’re lucky enough, things will eventually fall into place.
