No One Really Likes Quinoa, and Other Things Turning 40 Has Taught Me

1. As a child, I was the shy, sensitive, sickly girl who cried at the drop of a hat. Because I did not seem as physically or emotionally resilient as the children around me, I felt fragile by comparison.
2. It turns out that I am not so fragile.
3. In fact, I can be downright persistent when I have a goal in my sight.
4. But I have learned that doesn’t mean I am superwoman.
5. In fact, turning forty has confirmed the fact that I am a normal human being with all the normal human limitations.
6. Say, for instance, you have these great plans to write a fun, inspiring blog post about forty things you have learned for your fortieth birthday.
7. But you also work full time, are in seminary, have two speaking engagements to prep for and a tight writing deadline.
8. And you have been traveling for half of the month.
9. What forty years have taught me is that sometimes, it is just not worth it.
10. Sometimes, you just have to blow it off, run a bath, and spend the last night of your thirties soaking in epsom salts.
11. Because seriously? No one cares as much as you do.
12. It’s like that time you spent all that energy making this amazing, healthy meal, and your kids refused to eat it.
13. Because no one really likes quinoa.
14. It’s kinda like coffee and wine–people just pretend to like it because it makes them feel sophisticated, and over time, if they’re lucky, their tastebuds die and they forget how gross it actually is.
15. But kids don’t care about being sophisticated. They just want their mac and cheese.
16. Mac and cheese > quinoa. Now that I am forty, I have no problem admitting that. The kids were right.
17. But back to blog posts. And baths. Tonight, bath > blog posts.
18. And do you know what? Chances are good that you don’t even care.
19. I mean, you weren’t expecting a blog post from me.
20. You didn’t ask me to write this post.
21. And while you may appreciate my writing (thank you!!! I am so grateful!!!), that fact alone probably means you are the sort of person who would tell me to pry my fingers off the keyboard and go relax for a while.
22. Also, my junior high math teacher totally lied to me.
23. It is as I suspected: advanced mathematics have nothing to do with my life.
24. I am still a letters person, not a numbers person.
25. I am also an epsom salts person, and a mac and cheese person.
26. Want to know the main thing I have learned in forty years?
27. Life is not about doing the best you could ever do, in ideal circumstances.
28. It is about doing the best you can reasonably do right now, given your actual circumstances, and being okay with that.
29. At forty, I am finally beginning to be okay with that. So twenty-nine stream-of-consciousness tidbits it is! Take that, mathematics and perfectionism!

Hey, want to do something nice for me on my birthday? Consider ordering a copy of Don’t Hide Your Light Under a Laundry Basket for yourself or a friend, or leaving a review (or just clicking the stars) on Amazon, Goodreads, or your favorite bookseller’s website. Thanks a million–or at least 29 or 40. 😀