Happy Birthday to Me or Another Year Bites the Dust

So, it’s my birthday. For those of you who haven’t gone to my About Me page and done the math, I’m turning 36 today.

How do I feel about being in my mid-30s? I’m certainly older, hopefully wiser, and I’ve started noticing a few actual gray (or white in my case) hairs. I still don’t mentally feel the age I am, even though my body does it for me every so often.

I often times feel like I’m stuck in the middle of things. I’m a responsible adult, but I still have a passion for video games and things like comic book movies. Still, like the Bon Jovi song, it’s my life, and since I’m not going to live forever, I need to do things my way. The most unhappiest moments of my life have been when I haven’t been able to be me. As long as it isn’t realistically hurting anyone else, we should all have the freedom to be ourselves. I know I’ve become a more tolerant person as a result. Maybe the world could become more tolerant too.

This year has had more downs than ups, unfortunately, and while I have some regrets, I’ve come through it as a better, stronger person. We’re defined by how we handle our failures as much as we handle our successes. Failures aren’t necessarily bad things. They’re learning opportunities, and sometimes the lessons we learn from our failures are stronger than the ones we learn from our successes. The point is to just not do it again.

Am I looking forward to 2015? Not with any sort of real anticipation. My hope is that it will be a better year for me, but I know it’s just one step in the road that is my life.

I know my site isn’t great as of the moment, but I’m still learning how to deal with the modern day World Wide Web. Still, thank you for taking a moment to let me wax philosophical today in celebration of the event of my birth, and may the coming year be ever brighter for us all.