Mind over matter....*

* Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter. — Satchel Paige

I recently turned another year younger (but not necessarily wiser). Naturally, the usual celebrations took place, keeping in mind the pandemic-induced lockdown – lunch with the family, gifts from family and friends, my reactions to said gifts ranging from exclamations of heartfelt gratitude to wild whoops of joy, good wishes and phone calls from friends and students throughout that day and the next. Overall, a good time was had by all – everyone made it a point to show me how glad they were of my presence in their life; and I felt relieved that if I didn’t exactly enrich countless lives, at least I didn’t make too miserable those with whom I came in contact.

Birthday celebrations probably began in a period when life expectancy was low and friends and family gathered to celebrate the person’s survival for another year. Coming of age was also cause for celebration in cultures where a person’s legal status was enhanced upon attaining an age that allowed marriage or the right to vote or the age of conscription. As one grows older the celebration of birthdays is meant to make one feel positive about growing one year older, and consequently, that much closer to the end. Perhaps the commemoration of birthdays is also an extrapolation of the custom of celebrating significant life events. This custom may have begun in a desire to show the person that he or she was not alone in experiencing a particular phenomenon and that there was no reason to fear entering the next stage of one’s life. In the days of consumerism, birthdays have become, like all festivals, opportunities to measure love (and status) through the exchange of gifts.

The passage of one year also is a good opportunity to take stock of the year gone by. It allows one to assess how much has been gained and how much yet remains to be done of the targets one has set for oneself. Taking stock in this way also allows for refining and re-defining one’s targets; it allows one to assess if the goals that appeared attractive and important earlier still hold any allure. If not, this is a good time to make changes.

In my own case, taking stock of my career, I find that I have become even more firmly entrenched in the College and have managed to dig myself further into the woodwork. A few more years and I shall begin to resemble the barnacle-crusted sailors on Davy Jones’ ship in Pirates of the Caribbean. Professionally, I have learnt the highly valuable skill of saying ‘no.’ Learning this skill and exercising it in a professional environment can be astonishingly empowering, and it is a skill I would recommend to anyone not anxious to win popularity contests. I also learnt to tell people I didn’t much care for their petty jealousies and politics, and didn’t mind too much when they reacted petulantly. Assignments not directly related to College work have come my way and I have taken them up to enjoy the feeling of learning and doing something new.

On a personal front, age-related health issues continue to creep up on us, but nothing unexpected. On the plus side, I invested some of my hard-wrested income in a vehicle I have been drooling over for many years; needless to say, I feel a few inches taller. Another change is that I started this blog during the time that my Bitter Half was home quarantined, and when I couldn’t plague him in person. Thinking about and writing the blog kept me gainfully employed and stopped me from obsessing over his health.

So, in the final reckoning, it has been a good year and I want to thank everyone who made it so; you know who you are, so I shan’t mention you by name. To those who were nice to me, and to those who were not: I learnt a lot from you. As learning produces pleasure, keep the lessons coming, guys! (And the gifts, of course.) Cheers!