What I Have Learned

It may be ninety degrees outside but I have unofficially declared it to be fall. Though, apparently, it has been a summer devoid of record breaking heat, it has been consistently hot enough to be deemed the second warmest summer on record. I don’t know about you but I have had it with the joys of Summer 2016 and am ready to see just what fall might bring.

For those that know me well, it comes as no surprise that I am in full fledged fall mode. I celebrate my birthday in early September and for me that always signals the changing of the season. Never mind what the official calendar says. So, in honor of five decades of breathing on this earth, I am sharing some of the things that I have learned.

I have learned-

Things are not always as they seem. And then, sometimes things are exactly like they seem. You know, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck then it must be a duck. Unless it isn’t a duck, at which time all bets are off.

Never underestimate the possibility of the impossible. Just as soon as you think an issue is dead or that something just can’t happen- it does. There are very few constants in life but the surprise plot twists in daily living are one of them.

People will be kinder and more shallow than you expected. It is the yen and yang that keeps us all on the string like an emotional yo yo. As social norms go it is, well, normal. On the upside, the older I get the less I care, which is both a good and bad commentary on aging.

Fifty is not the new thirty. Granted, it is not what it used to be but I remember thirty and this is not it. It is both better and worse than thirty in many ways but it is not, I repeat not, the “new” thirty.

If you blindly trust what you read or hear, no matter the source, you deserve what you get. Check out everything. People lie and information is misrepresented, sometimes accidentally and sometimes intentionally. The bottom line is that you are responsible for your actions and beliefs. Both should be grounded in credibility.

You don’t have to forgive all the transgressions against you. Society would have you believe that every act, no matter how heinous, should be forgiven and closure attained. I have learned that, not only is that setting impossible standards but sometimes we need to remember the pain of where we have been to keep from traveling that road again. Also, reasonable anger is a good way to overcome pain. Just so long as it doesn’t consume you, it can drive you toward something better.

And perhaps most importantly, I have learned that all things are not equal. Energy is not infinite and the things that get the best part of you should be the things that are central to who you are and what you believe. If the person, place or thing disappeared today, would you still miss it in five years? If the answer is yes then it should be of utmost importance to you today and if the answer is no, then act accordingly. Second chances and do overs sometimes happen but they are rare. Don’t live life depending on them.

It seems like such a sort list for five decades of living. Like most people, I have traveled some dead end roads. But, I am fortunate to have found a few that have taken me some wonderful places. Instead of running toward the end, always wondering what is in front of me, I plan to enjoy the view along the way. Maybe that is why we slow down as we acquire years, to fully enjoy the view.