It took a pandemic and more health problems than usual for me to accept that I’m getting older. I don’t begrudge the experience, but I wish I’d come by it sooner. I’ve heard that youth is wasted on the young, and I agree with that saying more all the time.
Those same experiences have taught me more about myself than how to do things or how life works. Early in life, I learned that I like applying my intelligence to solve problems. I prefer to be kind but have had to learn to be stern more than I’d like. Life is unfair, but it is more predictable than people who are prone to erratic behavior.
In the navy, I worked with lots of people, and we relied on lots of machines. That taught me that I preferred people over technology, even if machines were more predictable than people. I’ve reassessed my opinion several times, but I still favor people. Sometimes it’s a tougher call than others.
I’ve worked at many jobs and tried to become an expert in some form at each one. That also led me to management roles, even when I didn’t seek them out. I discovered that funny quirk about life. Leaders tend to come in two flavors, those who want to be in control and those who lead even though they don’t want to be in charge. The latter is usually better, in my experience.
For almost thirty years, I said I wanted to write a book. I found out millions of people (maybe billions) say the same thing. Last year I wrote a book. Now I’m more focused on writing lots of books and telling stories that I’d love to read. I remind myself how much I love writing every time I finish a story, even the rough drafts.
Writing has changed how I look at the world in ways I never expected. I’m constantly making notes for story ideas. The only limits I see are in the number of days I have left to write. Hopefully there are a lot of those left.
I’ve rambled on enough about me. If there is anything I’d like you to take away from this post, or anything I write, it’s that life is what we make of it. So make the most of what you’re given, build the best world you can, and if you’re able, make life a little better for the people around you. That’s my plan anyway