I remember my dad’s 40th birthday.
We were on one of our annual cross country family trips—this time flying. My siblings and I were proud of our work—we had used our limited artistic skills to make my dad wear a black t-shirt that we had decorated with puff paint. Big words that said OVER THE HILL and prominently featuring our best versions of the California Raisins (if this doesn’t scream 1989, I don’t know what does).
Flash forward 30 years to today to my 40th birthday.
I’ll get on a plane today to speak in Arizona tomorrow. No puff paint shirt for me (although I think my two year old would love that mess). Just sitting on a plane waiting to get to my destination.
And that’s what I’m thinking about today—the travel—not the destination.
A lot of us live our lives focused on the destinations.
The Drivers License
The Prom
The College Acceptance
The Graduation
The First Significant Relationship
The College Graduation
The Proposal
The Wedding
The Job
The First House
The Kid
The Big Vacation
The list goes on and on. We create these moments—these destinations—where we “just have to get to them and then things work out.”
And when things don’t go quite our way and there is turbulence in life or a flight delay, we get frustrated.
I know that I lived far too much of my twenties thinking like that—unhappy with the travel delays life seemed to hand me.
But now as I look at where I am at 40, I’m seeing life a little bit differently.
I look at the travel that I’ve had and some of the different flights I’ve had to take.
- Not being a good enough singer to get leads in musicals which increased my involvement with leadership activities.
- Losing student council elections that helped me realize that I could still lead without titles and made me savor the victories more.
- My single days and how that allowed me to spend more time with my friends at ComedySportz.
- The massive dip in the economy that eliminated the teaching job fair and teaching positions right as I finished up my credential which reopened the possibility of me speaking professionally.
Each shift helped shape me.
And now I’m here at age 40. Excited about what comes next.
I’m excited about the travel.
I’ve spent so much of the last twenty years sitting on airplanes trying to ge
t to my destinations and in the middle of those hectic airport runs, long tarmac delays, cancelled flights, and chaos, I’ve watched the sunrise and sunset, I’ve taken off through rain clouds to enjoy a flight with cotton candy clouds below, enjoyed conversations with some of the most fascinating people ever, read great books, watched fun movies, and thought and thought about what I hope I can offer in this story of life.
So if today is me being “over the hill,” I guess I’m saying 
that I enjoyed the view of the summit. I’m glad each of you who took the time to read it played some part in my life as I climbed that hill, and I’m so very, very, excited about the journey that awaits and what the next decades will bring.
Let’s do this!
Patrick Maurer is an award-winning motivational speaker and leadership coach with a proven track record of breaking through the everyday noise to transform campuses, communities, and individuals of all ages. www.pmaurer.com
