On getting older |
Hi! I celebrated my 43rd birthday on Wednesday this week. It was a nice day, Iād managed to move almost all agency work off my plate. I worked with things pertaining to my upcoming fantasy novel, Automatonen (in Swedish only, for now), including the cover reveal and release date announcement which went out on Thursday. You can find all of that on my Swedish blog, if youāre curious. Iād wager most of you wonāt understand much of what it says, but there are mockups of the cover at least. Thereās a small site for the book, too. Anyway, this letter is about getting older. Growing older is an interesting thing. Not the actual aging so much as the way we talk about it. The amount of times people said or wrote that itās craaazy that Iām forty-three already amazes me. Itās because my age reminds them of their age, which makes sense when youāre talking to friends and family that youāve know for a long time. Iām writing this on Friday afternoon, and youāll get it on Sunday. I donāt feel older than I did at the beginning of the week. Technically I am, obviously ā time marches on ā but I donāt feel it, not really. Which isnāt to say that I havenāt aged. My body isnāt in the same shape or form that it was when I was thirty. My twenty year-old self would outrace me, but Iām stronger today. Iām also heavier, wider, with more meat (and fat) on my bones. Itās harder to get up in the morning, I donāt want to do all-nighters anymore, and while I can get into crunch mode as well as anyone, I tend not to. There was a time when I had so many projects going on at the same time because I just didnāt get tired. Thatās long passed. None of that has much to do with age, I think. I couldāve been just as thin as I was in my thirties if Iād prioritized that, but I donāt. Iād rather be strong and live a pleasant life. I could write all night, but Iād rather be sleeping. Itās not my age, or my body, that says no, itās my priorities. I keep hearing people, often developers and freelance creatives, saying that they were faster workers when they were younger. I donāt get that at all. Iām working less than I did when I started out, and yet Iām producing more value. For developers especially, as long as you learn new things, thereās just no way you were a better developer ten years ago. Hell, itās likely youāre better today than you were last month. Growing old isnāt scary to me. I donāt mind it, if anything itās better than the alternative. While I have changed, Iām as silly as I ever was, and so is my wife. Weāre goofing around daily, if you heard us youād have a hard time guessing our age. I donāt remember my parents doing that, nor my friendsā parents, but this is probably due to the childās point of view, and ignorance. Growing old might be more of a social construct than anything else. Except the addition of time, of course. Thatās my takeaway from the conversations Iāve had this week: That you are, indeed, as old as you feel. While your age is something related to the time youāve spent alive, getting old is a state of mind. The same goes for being young, too, although itās a moniker that only makes sense when talking about people of a young age. Or when people are talking about how they were, once upon a time, a sparkle in their eyes. That, I think, is the definition of growing old. LinkageThank you all for your input on what to add to the letter. A, to me, surprising amount of you missed the links that I used to include, so theyāre back. Less extensive though, Iām going to try to keep this section short and sweet. Weāll see how it goes. š§ The puzzling gap between how old you are and how old you think you are over at The Atlantic is strangely on point with todayās topic. š¤ The age of AI has begun proclaims Bill Gates over at his blog. It shouldnāt surprise anyone that Gates is thrilled with the prospect of AI, and what it can do to help tackle the health problems of the world. š The slow learning manifesto is pretty on point. āš» Blank Page is a simple writing app that lives in your browser. Save to download a text file. Iām liking it. Fun fact: I was involved in a startup with (almost) the same name. We wanted to help people write books. Unfortunately, it never really took off, and itās now defunct. Got something I should read? Send it to me, either by replying to this letter, or tweeting to @tdh. Thanks!
I should be sitting in the sun sipping wine when you get this. While my birthday was this Wednesday, the coming days will be a celebration of sorts, too. Iām in Nice, France, with my wife, enjoying some much needed time off. Until next week, take care. ā Thord D. Hedengren ā” Did you enjoy this issue of The Bored Horse? Feel free to forward it to a friend, or point them to the subscription page. Thank you! š |