I recently had a birthday and birthdays tend to generate self-reflection, whether I mean for them to or not. You know? Like you’re just planning your birthday dinner and suddenly you think, “Oh gosh, what am I doing with my life?!”
Thankfully this year didn’t bring that much panic (that was so 2019). However, there was a point last week when I found myself wondering: why haven’t I figured this out by now? It was a specific thing that I was struggling with (the timing of consuming hot beverages without scalding my mouth or letting them get cold, very tricky) but that led me to a new thought: how many things did I think I’d have figured out by now, that I just don’t?
For instance:
The coffee to water ratio. Guys. I’ve been drinking coffee since I was six years old. I’ve been drinking water since…when do children start drinking water? I don’t have children; do they drink water? They must. Regardless, I have a lot of years of experience drinking both beverages, and yet I can still get my ratio off, and suddenly discover that I’m jittery enough to accidentally drop my phone on concrete and dehydrated enough to request a medevac from the Gobi desert. Why is this still a struggle?
Introvert time. When it comes to how I recharge, I know that I must be alone. I need whole chunks of quiet time where there are no expectations placed on me – even something as simple as making dinner or choosing a tv show to watch. And yet, even at the ripe old age of 32, I still struggle to schedule in enough alone time. I get burnt out and cranky and I suddenly realize, “Hey, dummy. Go to your room and shut the door.” And everything gets better. And yet I still forget to do this.
Coupons. I live on a limited budget, and was initially very grateful when a friend gave me a coupon book for Christmas. But since then, that little book has done nothing but stress me out. I CANNOT with coupons. I can’t remember to take them with me, I can’t remember that I have them until I’ve already made the purchase, and I constantly live with the feeling that I’m wasting money. I’m a functional adult who has not figured out how to use coupons successfully.
Maybe in years to come I’ll figure some of these things out, but I’m also starting to wonder if there are certain things I will just never get.
What about you? What things did you think you’d have figured out by now that you don’t?
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