Up Close and Personal
Turning 45
Change is a Stranger That Never Ceases to Show
Five years ago, I wrote about the lessons I learned along the way to 40. Today, as I reflect on my 45th journey around the sun, I’m realizing that the past five years have taught me more about people, life, relationships, and myself, than all the previous 40 years combined.
A lot has happened over the past five years. I traveled the world many times over––from the leas of Scotland to the savannas of Africa to the glaciers of Iceland. I experienced the unforgettable joy of 200+ live events, read 400+ books, surfed breaks in 4 different continents, and rode my bike 10,000 miles in three of them.
I started and finished a great professional adventure just in time to begin a new one. I experienced profound loss, death of close friends and childhood idols, and the ending of friendships. I also experienced genuine love, true friendships, and incredible acts of kindness from total strangers.
Through it all, change was the only constant. This fact gets a lot more pronounced as you get older. You’re more aware of the change, no matter how subtle it is. Learning to live in harmony with change was by far the greatest lesson I learned over the past five years.
Staying grateful, happy, and optimistic is what keeps me going. Here’s to life!
