Each of our four seasons, spring, summer, fall & winter as measured by our calendars, lasts three months. In the Chicago area, we have experienced weather and temperatures that fit each of those seasons within the same week.
Life and careers can match and mirror cycles that are very similar to the seasons we experience. Rather than three months, our growth and maturity cycles in years. Now that birthdays seem to come faster as my time erodes, I started to reflect on the seasons of my life. Let’s say each of our life’s periods can be referred to as seasons for this particular article. I wondered how I can categorize and measure these seasons of my lifetime.
If one pays attention, some signs highlight the transitions between seasons. This transition allows for some time to recognize and prepare for the upcoming season. During our youthful years, we have typically measured time using the school calendar year, beginning at age four through college. We can define and measure this period with little debate as a period of twenty-two years. Would it be safe to say, for me, that this is the spring season of my lifetime? Sure, why not, without going through a macro analysis of birth, childhood, adolescence, etc?
We are being nurtured and educated and taught to be polite, hardworking, and independent. During this period, we are also being guided by structure, given constant direction, and told what to do.
We are discovering ourselves and learning how to interact and function with each level of complexity of responsibility. These levels are attained in a controlled environment better known as our formal education systems.
My next season, age twenty-two to forty-four, I would like to consider as the summer season of my life. Near perfect conditions most of the time except a few thunderstorms, hail, and perhaps for some, tornadoes/hurricanes. Yes, there can be some close calls for the lucky ones and a few tragedies for a few people we lost along the way. I can correlate these severe “weather” events as our tragedies, each affecting us differently.
For the most part, the summer season kicks off our independence, without discounting our college years. Though your parents no longer tell you what you can or cannot do, you probably have a workplace environment that does. The only difference is that you are now mature enough to select what kind of business, company, boss or customers align with one’s self and goals. For sure, someone is still telling you what to do, but you alone accept the trade-off. Even if you own a business, the customer is still telling you what to do.
Most careers start their first peak in the latter of the summer season. For me, it was thirty-seven to forty-seven. This was by no means a coincidence. If you read into any of the previous posts you might have spotted the moment that I defined self-aware, from the personal finance literacy perspective. This period set the stage for my future self, who I will never meet, not even with Doc’s DeLorean time machine. This period also primes the pump of Emotional Intelligence and creates an abundance of leadership opportunities for those who decide to pull that lever.
Seasonal changes do not happen overnight. In Chicago, the first signs of transitions from summer to fall are noticeable when it starts getting dark earlier with each passing day. The daytime temperatures are still summer-like well through October. The change becomes noticeable when leaves start to fall and the first ones crunch under your feet. The rhythm of nature takes its cues from sunlight, color, and temperature to create an orchestrated series of activities to prepare for the upcoming winter.
The fall season of my life is defined as age forty-four to sixty-six. There is, of course, a three-year or four-year period on the front end that I can define as my Indian summer. It was the period when mrs.fromthebachrow and I sent the kids off to college.
We spent the latter half of our summer years preparing for their temporary departure for them to pursue their independence, define their own lives, and create their own experiences….without us.
So here I am, smack dab in the middle of the “Fall” season of my life. The preparation for our winter has been well underway in an unhurried and pleasant manner. I’ve learned to appreciate and enjoy the seasons and reflect on decisions and what seemed sacrifices at the time, but in hindsight were not.
You see, today, this moment is really about your current self taking time for some considerations for your future self. My past self is only a memory housed in experience framed within a photograph.
Like the winters in Chicago, it’s anyone’s guess how mild or severe the cold or snow will be. The only thing we really can change is our response to it. What’s in store for the winter months of my life age sixty-six to eighty-eight? Will my life’s winter season start at sixty-six? Sure, but like the fall season, I’m sure as hell going to try and stretch the effects past age seventy. My winter season remains unwritten and untold, but the options, plans, and experiences are all mine the choose from. There’s plenty of runway ahead to make the adjustments. One thing is for sure, I won’t be shoveling snow.
Will I be sitting on a bench at the beach as an old man and saying if I knew then what I know now? Unsure, but knowing and doing are two different things and I still have plenty of fire to keep doing, to keep adding value and paying it forward.
Will you continue to follow along or will you do something about my hindsight to develop your foresight?
Strap in, we’re just getting warmed up!
Bottom Line #1
My current self is so appreciative of my past self from my latter summer season. Back then, I referred to this exact moment as my future self, but now, this moment, it’s my current self. (Still with me?)
My current self and future self had met my past self, but only as a memory. Photos from that period prove it.
If that Einsteinian moment is too thick to wade through let’s try breaking it down in simpler terms.
My future self is a distant way station that is familiar, yet unrecognizable when I come upon it. My future self solely exists because of my past and current self. However, I know it as my future self-waypoint because I tried to visualize it many years prior.
Thus I can confidently say that I can thank my past self for what I realize and enjoy today.
Perhaps it was a sacrifice or a delayed gratification. I have written many times, my future self will thank me. (me being my past self)
Bottom Line #2
If you want to live an exceptional, extraordinary, and happy life, you may have to give up many of the things that are part of a perceived normal one that is splashed across social media.
Bottom Line #3
Are you willing to give up some of your present self comforts for the chance to evolve into a better version of yourself, your future self?
