27

“Time and tide waits for no man”

I turned 27 a few weeks ago. I’ve never been a big birthday person. Ever since I hid from most of my “friends” during my 6th bday party, drawing all that attention to myself was never something I settled into. It is just a day for me - mostly an excuse to eat good food with my family and loved ones. One thing I enjoy doing around this time is taking a beat and reflecting on the last year.

When a milestone passes like a birthday, a new year or even a month, there’s this feeling I get where it feels as if I just blinked and missed it all. Time moves faster as you age. When you are younger, you have less lived experiences so each moment registers more. When you get older, a single day is a smaller fraction of everything you’ve already lived through. A plane ride that felt like an eternity as a kid now feels like an hour passing.

Year 26 was full of moments where I tried to slow that down. The best way to slow down time is to be a beginner.

I started off by signing up for a wheel class. I was horrendous. I spent the first class literally spinning my wheel because I couldn’t get it into any shape I wanted. I told my partner, I wanted to quit: the teacher wasn’t helpful and I was horrible at it. She encouraged me to keep at it. I stuck with it for two seasons and made a few bowls along the way.

I also wanted to push myself physically so I picked up bowling, soccer, and pickleball. Growing up I only played golf, so the muscle memory carried over more than I expected. Still learning the rules, looking clueless in front of people who already knew what they were doing. It was embarrassing in a way that reminded me how fun it is to actually get better at something week over week.

And then two trips that I won't forget: a 5-day hike in Peru, which was the highlight of the year, and South India for a wedding. These didn't slow time down exactly, but they made life feel bigger than the day-to-day. New York speeds everything up. I wouldn't change that but getting out reminded me there's a lot of world and life to be lived outside my routine.

For 27, I want to keep building on what I picked up this year while staying open to new ones.

Maxims from year 26:

• Expertise starts with a beginner’s mind
• Success requires payment in advance
• There is no shortage of ideas
• Luck favors the prepared mind
• Relationships are a two-way street
• Being great is being good consistently
• Be with your loved ones often
• Call your parents
• Execution eats strategy
• Walking helps you think
• Your output is the sum of your inputs
• Time does not announce itself when it leaves

Here’s to year 27.

Jeremy