When I was a kid, 40 seemed so old. I don’t think that 40 is old anymore (far from it), but I’m surprised to find that turning 40 has led me to think about how I want to grow old.
That’s not easy to think about – but it is easy to think about how I don’t want to grow old.
A few weeks ago I attended a ritzy charity event, and I swear half the people there – both men and women – had ridiculous stretched faces. They might as well had worn badges that said, “I paid a plastic surgeon a ton of money to look this silly.” I sure as hell don’t want to get old like that.
I also run into people who use age as an excuse not to try something new, and I don’t want to get old like that, either. I’m inspired by folks older than me who continue to move forward and challenge themselves. Dave Winer, for example, keeps coming up with great ideas despite being in an industry over-populated with young whipper-snappers.
And right now I’m getting a kick out of the fact that Rush – whose members are all in their mid-fifties – just put out one of the best albums of their careers (side note: if you’re a Rush fan and don’t agree that it’s a great album, then you need to listen to it a few more times). I love that the very last line on the album is “We could be down and gone, but we hold on.” Not exactly subtle, but still a great closing line.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to this decade – I plan for it to be my favorite one so far :)