This is a note for anyone who has recently been informed that they are no longer young.
It has recently been brought to my attention that I am no longer young. Apparently, calling people on the phone without texting them first is a thing that only old people do now. And, well, that’s how I roll.
Last week, I shared online my belief that just calling someone is acceptable behavior. I have never received so much online hate. More than one person described their reaction to my post as “horrified.”
I remember the days when if you called someone and they weren’t physically at home, no one ever even knew you called. I also remember picking up a receiver… I’ll just stop there. We had receivers.
The phone would ring and I would pick up a receiver having ZERO idea who would be on the other end. And you know what? I loved it. I remember when answering machines were new and you knew your friend’s parents were important because they had one. Want freedom to move around while talking? Get a 50’ phone cord. I miss the old ways.
Anyway, since telling the world on social media that I just call people without arranging a phone date by text, I’ve been told by a shockingly large group of people that I am of a different time. Many of them just straight up told me that I am old.
You know what? I’m fine with it.
I believe that people who have been on this planet for a little while have a gift that younger people just can’t have. We don’t talk much about it because, I believe, it really irritates the whipper-snappers to know there’s something awesome that is not available to them. It’s called experience.
I believe there is great value in having put up with a lot of annoying crap for a long time, having seen changes take hold or fail, having watched leaders rise and fall based on their behaviors, etc. If you have the perspective, as I do, that life is all about picking your poison and choosing how we are going to struggle, then you must believe in the unparalleled value of experience. Experience, after all, is how we estimate the amount of struggle waiting for us on paths we are only considering taking.
What’s the best way to prepare for a hard situation? Reflect back on all the similar hard situations you have already navigated.
What’s the best way to evaluate a proposal? Recall comparable proposals from the past and what you learned from watching them play out.
What’s the best way to make a hard decision? Think about previous related hard decisions you have already made and analyze how they landed.
Life is not about knowing what should happen. It’s about having seen the wheels fall off of what-should-happen over and over until you can intuit what reality will probably be. That comes with experience, and experience (hopefully) comes with getting a bit older.
So cheers to my fellow survivors of trips around the sun. While people rarely mention the value of experience when celebrating the attributes that make us happy or successful, us not-young-people know that we have a hard-won gift that the babies around us simply can’t access (for a while).
Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s 8:45 pm and time for me to get ready for bed.
