Another Trip Around the Sun!

It was my birthday today — August 30th!

Somehow I have managed to complete another circuit around the sun without having any massive mishaps or coming to harm. And I'm very grateful for that, honestly!

I guess I have reached a point in life where I don't really celebrate birthdays anymore, although I can't say that I was ever big into celebrating birthdays... although they often serve as a point of reflection, inviting a moment to think about the year that was and the year ahead.

These days, it seems like people rarely take the time to reflect on anything. They are "too busy," or so popular lore goes.

Well. maybe it's not a question of taking the time so much as having the time. But what is it we pretend we don't have enough time for? Do we actually not have enough time? Or are we simply serving up an excuse because we're not entirely adept at prioritizing how we use the time we do have?

After all, if you think about it, our days still come to us in 24 hour increments just like they always have and those 24 hours are neither longer nor shorter than they've ever been. Well, unless you're a scientist and you're gonna nitpick over the fractions of seconds that days change over time.

Perhaps it is simply human nature that we tend to believe that we can handle and find time to do more things than we actually and realistically can find time to handle and do. Not sure whether that's a Superman complex of some sort, or we're just being disconnected from how long it actually takes to do something in the real world, as opposed to in our minds.

Perhaps one of the things we don't admit to ourselves is the fact that when we decide that performing some task we need to get done is going to take two hours, we're not being honest about the fact that... yes indeed it'll take two hours, but only in a perfect world where there are no interruptions, no phone calls, no traffic jams command no unexpected emails asking us to "just send over a file real quick."

So what do you want to do for your birthday?

I considered that question a few days ago and came to the realization that what I actually wanted to do for my birthday was to have the luxury of not having to do anything. Which, in turn, might be a reflection of the fact that we tend to have too many things on our plate at any given time.

As I've written about before, the whole idea of "having it all" in life might be somewhat overrated. At least it's not something I've aspired to since my early 30's.

And so, I can say that I am grateful for the fact that I didn't really do much of anything today!

There will be plenty of time for "doing everything" in the next 365 days!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

How about you? Do you celebrate birthdays? What do you like to do on birthdays, if anything? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2024.08.31 00:23PDT
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