A notebook worth starting and discussing.
It’s my 34th birthday today. When my mother was my age, I was 13. And, as you can imagine, it seems impossible to imagine myself as the mother of a 13-year-old. I definitely feel too young for that.
Whenever I think of my age, I always feel like not much has changed. But the last time I walked into the office of a startup, I realized I was the oldest person in the room.
A wise friend of mine once said, “You’re young as long as you believe the greater things are ahead of you and you’re old once you feel like you’ve already experienced them.” I feel like there is no better summary of age and what young and what old means than this.
On most days, I still feel like I’m learning and discovering new things and I feel young.
But then there are also moments when I feel like something isn’t worth the effort necessary to make that something happen. And whenever this feeling creeps in I feel old. Not being “that hungry” as my friend Taylor McKnight summarized it, is what makes me feel old at times. And then, especially then, I miss the naïve me that believed anything was possible.
It’s not that I don’t believe anything is possible anymore. I just don’t think everything is worth the effort anymore. So is this what getting older is like?
There is another characteristic I’ve noticed creep in as I’ve gotten older.
A certain degree of detachment.
As I’ve become more comfortable and happy with the present, I’ve also become more detached from the things I’d once have probably thought were worth agitation, even rebellion.
It’s this degree of agitation I figured is what divides generations. It’s what the “young” don’t understand and the “old” dismiss as naïve I guess.
Recently, I felt inspired to start a notebook to jot down what I’d like to see change in “this” world. It’s how the old in me finds peace with the young side of my soul.
So far I’ve written down things such as…
All energy is from renewable sources
The subway and buses are driverless
Trains are hydrogen-powered
Every woman uses reusable menstruation products
Every product on the market has an ecological certification
Every supermarket has a supply of zero-waste products
….
I feel like corona has given us the space to rethink how we want to see this world be. If only we’d all take the time to dream about the world we want to live in. And so my wish for my birthday is to hear what you’d like to see change in this world and how? Instead of the anger, I want ideas. And I’m curious. And possibly also hungry.
