Love Thirty (Four)
A few years back, I wrote a short story on my birthday, submitted it to the Brooklyn non-fiction arts contest, and became a finalist. Since then, I have begun making writing a tradition around my birthday. As I get older, I look at this time as a moment to reflect on life, where I am, and where I want to go.
Life has been good to me, and I am blessed. Grateful. I can't ask for much more, and I genuinely thank the higher power for my life and each moment I get to breathe, think, and type on a keyboard. I believe life can be pretty simple if you let it. Of course, the details can get complicated, like how to pay your rent or who the best accountant in town is. Still, overall, there are a couple of themes I've found helpful throughout life, and most of them can probably be learned from a Barney Song and were somehow forgotten from the Ivy League education.
Move - I play tennis often, but I also walk, stretch, run, jump, skip, lift, and wiggle my fingers to remind my brain that those things also matter. Nothing I say is scientific, but when you move, you groove. As children, we all moved a bunch, but as you get older, it's cool to use your brain to show off your intelligence. Low-key, though, moving is still pretty cool.
Dream - I wake up daily hungry for something other than a gluten-free bagel, which is also very good. I dream of being a great tennis player, a published author, a small coffee shop owner, a father, or the old guy at the park who stretches every day and smiles at the younger runners. You can be alive and still be pretty dead if you forget how to dream.
Laugh - Sometimes you meet people who drank the Kool-Aid of life too seriously and, as a result, take themselves too seriously. They think they are saving the world by posting a thought piece on Linkedin, or they act like they are better than you because their shirt is tucked in. Life, at least the ones humans created, is mostly a joke. None of it matters, and the sooner you figure out nobody knows anything, the more you can laugh. Life is funny, and it's cool to laugh at yourself.
Love - I am in love. With a person, with a hobby, with my morning coffee routine. I love my family, and I love the memories of the past. I love the adventures to come and the world (especially when I am on that coffee high). Love is a powerful tool because you can move mountains when you move with love. It's a fuel and a state of mind that is impossible to buy but can be learned if you genuinely get to know yourself. I am still getting to know myself, and I assume I always will be, but I even love that process on most days.
Life is a simple game. Don't get caught up in the details so much.