“Student wins local science fair, age 12!”
“13-year-old plays with the State Symphony Orchestra!”
“Child Artists Prodigy draws winning artwork at Farmers Market!”
These types of headlines, headlines that imply there is more value to accomplishment the younger you are, are the types of headlines that haunted me most during my childhood. Talk of what kid did what and when by what age inscribed a deep-rooted fear inside me that the older I got, the less value my achievements would hold. Somehow, winning an art contest at a Farmers Market at the age of 36 doesn’t sound as nice as a “child prodigy,” and a student playing with the State Symphony Orchestra doesn’t hold the same “wow factor” as saying a “13-year-old.”
The cure to this fear always seemed simple: do as much as I possibly can between each birthday—achieve as much as I possibly can as soon as possible. Each and every birthday, thus, operated like a micro-New Year where my resolutions changed, my goals reinvented themselves, and a new era of “me” emerged. I felt pressure to continuously add something new to my existence in order to “justify” somehow being on this planet for a given amount of time.
But when does this unhealthy prerogative end? When I’m 100 years old still trying to beat out those who are 101?
It’s easy to get caught up in counting the years and measuring one’s worth through the candles they blow out, but it takes courage to step out of that mindset and let time pass without feeling the need to fill it. So, as I approach my 20th birthday, I’d like to say goodbye to this familiar birthday anxiety and reinvent some new goals in a healthy fashion.
I’d like to add experiences to my existence that shape my soul, not my resume. I’d like to live more in the moment and develop a rich repertoire of memories that will outlast any headline on the news. I’d like to cherish the privileges that come with each new age I reach, instead of dwelling on my “failures” to go beyond the barriers of ages I’ve passed…The list can go on and, in fact, I hope it does.
Enjoy the moment! Live in the now! And happiest of birthdays to anyone approaching another year around the sun. Remember that life can be much more simple if we look beyond the numbers that define us.