Friday, December 30, 2022

Life at 60 Years Old Seems Strange For “My Generation”

I would like to conclude 2022 by looking forward to a curious event that is approaching on the heels of the new year of 2023–my 60th birthday on January 2. It feels peculiar to be turning 60, in part because I’m a peculiar person. I look at other folks in their 60s (or higher) and they’re still bouncing around all over the place. Whereas I cannot bounce much at all. My body moves like an old turtle, and has for some years. It still moves, but it’s not getting any faster.

Nevertheless, on a gorgeous sunny afternoon like we had today, I will go out and “turtle my way” along the quiet roads of our neighborhood that I know so well, but that have only grown richer with time.

Often my body “feels” older than I am. But the other strange thing is the emotional immaturity that I still find within myself. In many ways I still don’t feel “grown up.” I grew up in the 1970s, when life in the affluent world was changing in so many ways—with many positive developments, but with much that was bewildering, tumultuous, and ultimately disappointing. My generation (the “late-boomers”/early-genX bunch) was “thrown” into a huge world of seemingly boundless possibilities but very little wisdom for how to choose rightly and grow well. There were also dangers and traps everywhere. We fell into them and got hurt, sometimes badly. So we are a bit emotionally misshapen, and I think that causes peculiar kinds of frustration and suffering as we get older.

Still, I have hope for myself and my generation as we move forward, whatever the ways we may still be confused and broken. I made this video today, out in the sun, as I considered these things:

I wish you all a very Happy New Year and continued Christmas Season.