...I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
...I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time to that one....
I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
—Henry David Thoreau
Happy Birth Day Baby!
I’m an Aries/Rat who will celebrate 58 years of life this month and wanted to write a post in celebration but could not get started until I found a friend's journal. Her birthday is this month also. She posted the question, “Does life get better with age?” The other shoe dropped and I had a central point for my Birth Day post.
This is not something anyone can tell you or if they do, you probably won’t believe them. In my 20’s, I thought I knew everything, and I did from my perspective as a twenty year old. I became the first in my family to graduate from college. I lived abroad and I held a management position in Corporate America. Then in my 30’s I started climbing the corporate ladder at a fast track pace. My primary focus and measurement of success was how often I received a promotion. I lacked any true personal identity. My nickname in the neighborhood was Mr. IBM.
During my 40’s I started to ask the important questions concerning the quality of my life. What is important to me? Am I doing the work I want to do? Am I happy? I did not view this self examination as a “crisis.” No, it was an opportunity to switch gears in midstream. I left the corporate world and stripped myself naked of the material abundance to which I had become accustomed. I sold the car, gave away the television, suits, skis, tennis rackets and everything else which had become a symbol of the person who no longer existed. I decided to add back only those things which were necessary for my existence in the world. I traveled lightly without all the encumbrances which at one time seemed important and/or necessary. I sought a different way of being in the world.
As a result of the lessons learned during my 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, I am now free to live my life any way I choose. Each segment of my life when examined individually has merit, but when explored in the totality of fifty-eight years, it has purpose. I am supposed to be here. There is no doubt in my mind. I only know this due to having lived the life I have lived. I understand the value of life and I am grateful for the time I am allotted. I listen to the echoes of my own life and I am comfortable with my body. It is this body that endured the most changes over the years and I am grateful for its endurance, strength and good health.
There was a time during my youth when the future was all I thought about. Today, in truth, I give it very little thought. For me, life gets better as I grow older because the innocent wonder of the child returns with age and blends with the wisdom gained through the experience of being alive.
Happy BirthDay Baby!
Photo Credit: Me, 1949.