When I was in my early thirties I recall feeling like I was still in college. But I recognized that college students were looking more and more like 12 year-olds. It was one of the first realizations I had that I was aging.
I recall when I hit my mid-thirties thinking that if I had pursued that football scholarship at Arizona State and become a professional athlete, I’d likely be retiring soon.
When I finally got my dream job and realized that the best paycheck I could ever expect was going to leave me a long way from wealthy, it took me a long time to accept the new reality.
When I discovered that I am far better at coming up with ideas for others rather than executing them myself, it made me realize that I was far better at being a publisher than the writer I’d always dreamed of being.
It’s been a long process, but today I realize that my house will never be featured on MTV’s Cribs. My car will never catch the envious glances of other drivers. I’ll never vacation on a secluded island. I won’t ever again weigh what I did in my twenties. And you know what? These are some of the most freeing realizations I’ve ever had. Since I’ve been able to abandon false expectations for things I shouldn’t have been hoping for anyway, I can rest easy in who I really am. Rather than looking for a tomorrow that will never come, I am now far more capable of seeing what is in front of me today and just enjoying it for what it is.
And now I’m interested in hearing…what is it you know you’ll never be? It might be a little painful to admit it, but jot your one word answer in the comment section.
(And here’s another little thing I know I’ll never be able to do!)
I can give up on the car and big house and financially stable…but not vacationing on a secluded island? I'm gonna hold on to that one for a while.
Certain
By the way, this is in no way a response to your earlier post about small group certainties