On April 24 my Dad would have turned 70 years old.

As I reflect, I not only miss my Dad immensely, but I also find myself thinking how strange it is that we seem to shudder at the thought of another birthday, particularly as we get older. On my Dad’s birthday, we celebrated my birthday with my family, which was fitting because I always enjoyed sharing a birthday month with my Dad. While we were filling our plates with salad and pizza, a comment was made that 70 would have been a hard age for my Dad, that he would have really started to feel old. Perhaps this is true, but it gave me pause. I would like to think he would have taken turning 70 in stride. Granted there would have been some uphill battles, but I like to think he would have embraced it. It also got me thinking about aging and how, rather than dreading our next birthday, we should remember how lucky we are to age and to reflect on a life well lived even if there are some bumps (and you can be pretty sure there will be) along the way.

I am by no means an example of someone who has always embraced getting older. In fact, just the other day, I caught myself questioning if I was where I wanted to be in my career and if I would ever get there because 40 is just around the corner. First of all, I am right where I need to be (clearly this is a harder lesson in practice than in theory because I know I have blogged about it before). And, second, I just turned 32. And, yes time does seem to pass by inexplicably faster than when I was 12, but I’m closer to 30 than 40, and I circle back to the fact that I just need to live in the moment.

Why is it so hard for this regular yoga-going, relatively intuitive and intelligent, and ambitious being to live in the moment? Because it is hard to be ambitious and yet be okay with where I am, knowing hard work will eventually pay off by way of continuing to grow, learn, and progress. And so perhaps it is knowing at a higher level what I hope to achieve in the future while taking each day as it comes, being in the moment, and working hard to continue on my desired path and being okay with shifts in the overall plan as I learn new things about myself. And, ultimately, it requires I let go of comparing myself to others – how I look, where I am in my life both personally and professionally, and where I want go. All so much easier said than done, but I like to think my Dad, if I were able to talk to him as I so long to, would agree.