We just finished up celebrating my son’s 11th birthday and we went big this year.
It was a weekend filled with fun and family at the Pocono’s largest indoor water park and resort.
I will say, while weekends like this can be both expensive and exhausting they also allow you the very rare occasion to witness the level of joy you see in children when they first walk into an amusement park, take their maiden voyage on a water slide or unexpectedly get drenched by 3 gallons of falling water.
You can’t help but feel a bit of that joy yourself just by being in such close proximity to it.
By the time you read this, I will have celebrated my birthday and turned 51. Which feels like a long way from being 11.
Before we go any further, I, unlike many people, do not think my age alone gives me any credibility to give you life advice. Actually, the older I get, the less I believe I have anything figured out. Maybe that is the actual wisdom of age.
But as I continue on my journey into the back nine of life there are certain things that have definitely become clearer to me. And if I can’t sit back in my rocking chair and repeat stories I’ve told dozens of times or spout some knowledge to the whipper snappers out there, what’s the point of getting old?
Here are some things that I think are of value that I’d love to share.
Take care of your body.
As someone who has dedicated a significant part of my life to training, it’s not particularly surprising that I would start with this. However, having just spent the weekend with about 5000 mostly naked adults who I have to imagine are roughly my age, it became clear that most adults, at some point, put less of a value on taking care of their bodies and health than they should.
It’s risky to make assessments simply based on how people look or behave at a time when they are supposed to be letting loose. However, watching young and middle aged adults struggle to get up the water slide stairs or bend over to pick up their children and drink approximately 12,000 calories worth of pina colada makes me believe that these are not one-off occurrences.
You probably aren’t going to prioritize six pack abs or PR’ing your squat when you’ve got three kids and are trying to keep your fledgling dry cleaning business afloat. But, if you can train hard for 3 hours per week, eat a nutritious diet, regularly breath hard and get a consistent and reasonable amount of sleep you’ll have a better shot at longevity, gain confidence and become more productive and capable.
It’s worth it.
Make enough money.
Confession time. For most of my life, I didn’t care about money much. I’m not a big spender. I don’t like having a lot of stuff. I was always too busy writing or drawing or working out or daydreaming which didn’t leave a lot of time to study the tax benefits of a Roth IRA.
This was a mistake.
Being obsessed with money is unhealthy and no way to live. But the cliche that money doesn’t buy happiness is only a half truth. Having enough money does buy you some freedom, the ability to do more things that make you happy, give you more control over your time and allows you to rest easier at night.
These are all worthwhile pursuits.
And while I’m not the first person you should ask for financial advice I am confident in saying that the earlier you get on this, the better.
Spend time with your kids.
The two most resonant things I’ve heard when it comes to your children is that when you are raising them “the days are long and the years are short” and “spend twice the amount of time and half the amount of money”.
As the main financial provider of my own household, finding enough time to spend with my son is definitely challenging, but I’ve been able to make and have breakfast with him essentially every morning and wash him up and get him to bed every night. I take time off to go to the school plays. I prioritize spending time with him when I am home. It’s not perfect but it’s something. And I am remarkably grateful for that.
Solitude is under appreciated.
I’m a big fan of surrounding myself with a community of people with similar interests and likes. I enjoy nerding out about acoustic guitar or training or whatever with others who are into the same stuff that I am.
But there is also a lot of benefit to spending time on your own. It will calm your mind, allow you to truly know yourself and lead to making the smartest and best decisions for your life.
If you struggle with being alone that should be a big red flag. Work on it.
Don’t take it all too seriously.
I truly believe this one. We are here for a blip and, most of the things we worry about never happen anyway.
When I figure out how to live up to this one, I’ll let you know.