“Life is long. Youth is short.”

Or so says a favourite character in Contentment is for Cows. Ahh, the joys of youth. All that energy, all that collagen.

All that angst. “Am I living my life right?”

If youth is defined as teens and early twenties and the average life expectancy in Canada is over eighty, then we are young for a very short portion of our life.

The inspiration for this post is my birthday. It’s not a big milestone, just another number. The advantage of accumulating later decade birthdays is being able to see how young thirty, forty or fifty really is. It is laughable to listen to someone complain about turning twenty-five.

This year I have been reflecting on how hard I worked when I was younger; jobs, careers, businesses, university night school and summer classes, year after year. I’m not describing unusual circumstances here. I marvel at the careers of friends and family who worked as hard as I did and managed to raise kids too. Phew. And kept a clean house.

Whatever your age, have a little gratitude for the work you did when you were younger. Most of us did (do) our best in any given year.

Birthdays, regardless of age are a great time to visit the triumvirate of life circumstances; health, finances and relationships. Examine the bucket list while you’re at it and you’ve got yourself a party. The relief of getting older is you can let go of the “Am I living my life right?” and move on to “Let’s just enjoy.”  Or something like that, whatever it may be for you.

“If you had it all to do over again…” What an annoying question. It’s a moot point. Unless there is something to atone for, regret is a waste of emotional space. 

The word present can refer to a gift or to time. The etymology of present is tied to the Spanish word for gift implying that the present moment itself is a gift. Enjoy your present day, whether it is your birthday or not.

Keep your joy.

Anne Milne is an every Sunday blogger, unless it’s a holiday weekend. Or summertime. Facebook or email.