Young & Hungry

When does our perception of birthdays change?  I’m guessing it is somewhere between 21 and 25.  The ages, after which, you no longer need that extra year as an enabler.  There are other benefits that the years deliver, however.  Knowledge, wealth, friendships, and experience all build over time, but these are often overshadowed by achy backs, extra pounds, and ever growing responsibilities.  Either way, I think there are two main offenders to which we can point our fingers.

 

 The first culprit to be credited with the downfall of the birthday is self expectation i.e. the “I should be here, doing this, making this, and having that” mentality.  Let’s be honest we all, at some point or another, have forecasted how our lives will look at various ages.  Johnny wants to fly to the moon and Susie wants to be a homemaker.  Are you married with children living your predictions?  Do you wish you were living your predictions at a space station far from Earth?  Or do you find that you still feel too young for all that and wonder how you got to said birthday so quickly!  It’s quite the oxymoron, feeling old because of a number, yet young at the same time.  So we are bound by our own predictions, hoist by our own petard, and “sad pancakes” all of our own accord.  Why set goals in the first place?  You don’t know what you really want, you hardly make them reality, and they are yet another accountability weighing you down.  Well, my CEO says that the best way to make things happen is to set rigid quantifiable goals.  I agree with her as this is something I do and I am not too far away from my goals, but I’ve found myself looking back and wondering if I had the right goals in the first place.  Or did I, like many people, diagram a life map simply to avoid staggering blindly into the unknown, getting nowhere fast, as we have been taught will happen without a plan. 

The second culprit – fear of death – stems from the previous discussion.  Why would you be afraid of death unless you first, fear the unknown and second, don’t feel successful in your earthly goals.  Again who’s to say that life after death isn’t a piece of cake in comparison; please pardon the reference.  I suppose that along with death you can fear the general ailments and deterioration that accompany aging – God forbid you lose your teeth – but while your physical standard of living may decrease does your mental awareness and knowledge not increase proportionally?  Is knowledge not power and enlightenment?  I don’t have answers for these questions, but they are thoughts that plagued me through the days and weeks leading up to the big 27 (note this post is from last year).  Apparently, yet another To Do left incomplete.    Perhaps if you ensure that those things you do instead, that block the plans you thought you wanted, are important and enjoyable you can leave the weight of charted territory and create a new map that, while unknown at the moment, will bring you true joy free of fear and should haves.  Because if you’re living your life to the fullest there should be no would haves were you to learn that the reaper’s knocking at your door.

In conclusion, I charge you to capture that excitement that you once associated with birthdays, live each day so that you feel successful at the passing of another year, and for goodness sake have a second slice; you still never know when you’ll get another!

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Speaking of how you use your time, this recipe was pretty intense.  So instead of writing it out please see Smitten Kitchen for details.  I, of course, used preserves instead of the from scratch rasberry filling and bought frosting instead of using the ganache.  It was delicious nonetheless and I’m sure I put to good use the time I saved there as well!