Today represents a couple events that might be called milestone moments. The most obvious one is Columbus Day. The other milestone moment is a little more personal. It’s my fortieth birthday. I don’t’ spend a lot of time talking about my birthdays, because I find that it’s often self-serving and really not all that productive.
However, because we are currently discussing the Embracing of Small Victories in our Year of Listening Up series, I am prone to ponder the alignment.
Milestone Moments: Discovering New Territory
Yes, today is Columbus Day. However, let’s resist the urge to hash out all the gobbled-gook about whether Christopher Columbus discovered America or not. If that delights you, you can educate yourself further about Christopher Columbus here and here.
Though I have no desire to delve into the controversial nature of the day, I do want to recognize some of the timeline and reasons for the holiday.
Columbus Day began as a celebration of Italian-American heritage later followed with President Benjamin Harrison’s issuing of an 1892 proclamation encouraging Americans to participate in patriotic festivities. This was intended for marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage. Pressured by the Knights of Columbus, who were seeking to have the Catholic hero honored, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Congress declared October 12 a national holiday to be known as Columbus Day. It was later changed by President Nixon to the second Monday of October.
To this point in the timeline, the day is influenced by at least three U.S. Presidents though I bet there are others. One that came after is President Ronald Reagan, who had a great take on the significance of Columbus Day,
Columbus Day is an American holiday, a day to celebrate not only an intrepid searcher but the dreams and opportunities that brought so many here after him and all that they and all immigrants have given to this land.
Regardless of what you believe to be true and myth about Columbus Day, let’s remember that the spirit of endeavor, growth, discovering and forging new ground – the pursuit of a refining life, on purpose – prevails. That’s a spirit you should commemorate and adopt into your life on a daily basis.
On the Milestone of Turning 40-Years-Old
I haven’t felt very well for about a week. A bit of nausea, some sinus pressure and a persistent headache. Of course, it’s bothered me. What bothers me most is ambiguity and a personal tendency to nurture hypochondria.
I had wondered if it were the continued result of riding county fair rides with my kids, back alignment issues related to those rides, the flu (which I rarely get), or something worse – tumors or chronic depression. Maybe a combination of all those things!
With turning 40 being such a touted life event, the latter two possibilities remained pretty persistent. I got a back adjusted at a chiropractor (I suffer from scoliosis) and spent the weekend in “recovery mode” thinking I might simply be run down in light of a busy several weeks.
Today, I am feeling much better (thanks for your concern).
I am embracing my age. The fact of the matter; I have long viewed my life to having been on borrowed time of sorts. I had a near-death experience in 1994 and have done a lot of stupid things throughout life that could have easily gone into very bad directions.
Age 40 is a milestone. But so it’s not the first, nor will it be the last. (see: 41 Will Come)
What turning 40 represents for me is a season of opportunity. It’s an opportunity to move forward in life with a desire for new territory, free of most of the youthful hubris that kept me foolishly anchored to the mainland instead of setting sail.
Here at age 40, I’m looking forward to embracing my personal spirit of endeavor, growth, discovering and forging new ground – the continued pursuit of a refining life, on purpose.
Daily Milestone Moments
Milestone moments like fortieth birthdays and Columbus Day commemorate a spirit of endeavor, growth, discovery and forging new ground. It’s the pursuit of a refining life, on purpose. A spirit to adopt into life on a daily basis.
Turning 40 is a milestone, yes. Although, let’s not forget the many mini-moments that live in the gaps that exist between our milestone moments.
From a project management perspective, milestone moments show many mini-moments building upon one another to achieve a major accomplishment. I believe this is also true in life.
Some might say they are defining moments.
Mini-moments and each birthday are worthy of celebration just as much as milestone moments like birthdays ending in zeros or fives. They are just as worthy of celebration as setting sail to change the world.
Achieving 40 years of life really is no more or no less a blessing than the 39 that came before it. Heck, the roughly 14,560 days that came before today are just as much a blessing and opportunity.