{"id":18362,"date":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/what-are-some-things-you-realize-as-you-get-older-98\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","slug":"what-are-some-things-you-realize-as-you-get-older-98","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/what-are-some-things-you-realize-as-you-get-older-98\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Some Things You Realize as You Get Older?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me tell you, hitting my late 30s has been like someone swapped my morning coffee with a shot of clarity. Last month, I was scrambling to hang fairy lights for my daughter\u2019s \u201cunicorn garden\u201d birthday party (in the rain, because Midwest weather loves a plot twist). As I stood there soaked, wrestling with tangled wires, it hit me: Why am I stressing over Pinterest-perfect magic when she\u2019d be thrilled with Dollar Tree glow sticks and a mud puddle?<\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the big thing nobody tells you: Time warps faster than a TikTok trend<\/strong>. In my 20s, I burned the midnight oil chasing promotions at a corporate job that treated work-life balance like a myth. I missed my best friend\u2019s wedding for a client call. Skipped vacations. Ate more Lean Cuisines than I care to admit. Then, one Tuesday, my dad called to say his cancer was back\u2014and just like that, I realized \u201chustle culture\u201d was a Ponzi scheme. These days? I clock out at 5 PM sharp. My boss gets my Excel skills; my kids get my heartbeat.<\/p>\n

Mistakes stop being monsters and start being mentors<\/strong>. Take my DIY phase. Oh man\u2014the time I tried to remodel our bathroom with YouTube tutorials and a hubris-powered toolkit? Let\u2019s just say the toilet rocked like a porch swing for six months (Pro tip: Flex Seal can\u2019t fix everything). But that disaster taught me to laugh at my own ambition and call a pro when it matters. Now I\u2019ve got a sweet handyman named Ray on speed dial and zero shame about it.<\/p>\n

Friendship isn\u2019t a numbers game<\/strong>. In college, I measured my worth by how many people showed up to my parties. These days? My inner circle fits around a firepit. There\u2019s Jen, who brings me soup when I\u2019m sick. Dave, who talks me off the ledge during parenting meltdowns. We don\u2019t do \u201clikes\u201d or group chats\u2014we do 2 AM texts that say, \u201cYou good?\u201d That\u2019s the stuff that holds you together when life gets wobbly.<\/p>\n

And health isn\u2019t vanity\u2014it\u2019s survival<\/strong>. I used to think \u201cself-care\u201d was a bubble bath and a face mask. Then I spent a decade ignoring lower back pain until I herniated a disc trying to carry groceries and<\/em> a toddler up the stairs. Now? I\u2019m that person doing pelvic tilts in the Target parking lot. I meal prep (sort of\u2014Trader Joe\u2019s frozen section is my sous chef). I walk the dog instead of binge-watching Netflix. It\u2019s not glamorous, but neither is adult diapers.<\/p>\n

Oh, and you stop apologizing for what makes you weird<\/strong>. Last summer, I started birdwatching. Not the sexy, binoculars-and-safari-hat kind\u2014I\u2019m talking standing in my pajamas at dawn, arguing with blue jays over my sunflower seeds. My neighbor once caught me mid-conversation with a particularly sassy cardinal. She looked at me like I\u2019d grown antlers. But you know what? That bird\u2019s morning chatter brings me more peace than any meditation app ever did.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the kicker: None of this clicked overnight<\/strong>. It\u2019s like those \u201cMagic Eye\u201d posters from the mall in the \u201990s\u2014you stare at the chaos until suddenly, the hidden shape snaps into view. So if you\u2019re feeling stuck in the messy middle, hang tight. Buy the weird hobby kit. Cancel plans to nap. Text the friend you haven\u2019t seen since 2017. Life\u2019s too short for \u201cshoulds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now if you\u2019ll excuse me, I\u2019ve got a date with that cardinal. His name\u2019s Steve. (Don\u2019t ask.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me tell you, hitting my late 30s has been like someone swapped my morning coffee with a shot of clarity. Last month, I was scrambling to hang fairy lights for my daughter\u2019s \u201cunicorn garden\u201d birthday party (in the rain, because Midwest weather loves a plot twist). As I stood there soaked, wrestling with tangled…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}